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Ctiilbreti  of  tfie  IBitsiuxxtttion 


BOOKS  BY  THE  SAME  A  UTEOR 

Beside  the  Bonnie  Brier  Bush 

The  Days  of  Auld  Lang  Syne 

A  Doctor  of  the  Old  School 

Kate  Carnegie 

The  Upper  Room 

The  Mind  of  the  Master 

The  Cure  of  Souls 

The  Potter's  Wheel 

The   Companions   of  thb  Sorrowful 

Way 
Rabbi  Saunderson 
The  Young  BarbarlilNS 
The  Homely  Virtues 
also 
Life  op  Ian  Maclaren 

By  W.  Robertson  Nieoll 


C&ilbren  of  tfie  3^imttttion 

BY 
JOHN  WATSON,  D.D. 

(IAN  MACLAREN) 


NEW  YORK 

Sobb,  iHeab  anb  Companp 

1912 


P     :     . 


i^-^ 


W3 


COPTRIOHT,   1900,  BY 

JOHN  WATSON 

COPTRIGHT,  1012,  BT 

DODD.  MEAD  AND  COMPANY 
Published  March,  1012 


K^- 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

Some  years  ago  preliminary  ar- 
rangements were  transacted  for 
the  publication  of  this  book  in 
America,  but  for  some  reason,  of 
which  I  am  ignorant,  the  final 
closure  was  postponed,  and  the 
author's  death  in  1907  left  the 
matter  unsettled. 

It  is  at  my  mother's  desire,  and 
through  the  courtesy  of  the  pro- 
prietors of  the  Sunday  Magazine, 
that  theses  studies  are  no:W  pub- 
lished in  book  form.       .    •. 

Iioin>oi7, 
February  1912. 


304110 


Contents; 

CHAPTBE  PAOB 

I  Four  Faithful  Women     .  1 1 

II  A  Sinner    ....  33 

III  A  Backslider    .        .        .57 

IV  Two  Ordinary  People     .  85 
V  The  Company  OP  Disciples  115 

VI  The  Lord's  Brother         .  137 

VII  Thomas  the  Doubter        .  159 


:f our  :f aitf^fttl  Momen 


FOUR  FAITHFUL  WOMEN 

When  Jesus  rested  from  His  la- 
bour and  His  body  slept  in  Jo- 
seph's tomb,  it  was  tbe  darkest 
day  in  the  history  of  the  Church. 
The  Master  had  done  His  best  to 
prepare  the  disciples  for  this 
trial,  assuring  them  long  before 
that  His  death  was  inevitable 
and  that  His  resurrection  was 
sure.  But  His  words  failed  of 
their  meaning;  because  He  was 
yet    present    with     them.     His 

[11] 


S*oiti  Faithful  Women 

friends  could  not  imagine  His 
departure.  His  prophecy  had 
been  only  too  sadly  fulfilled,  and 
it  might  have  been  expected 
that,  if  the  unbelief  of  the  dis- 
ciples about  the  Lord's  death  had 
been  overcome  by  the  cruelty 
of  facts,  their  unbelief  regard- 
ing the  Lord's  resurrection  would 
have  yielded  to  the  evidence  of 
hope;  but  they  were  so  stunned 
by  their  loss  that,  although  they 
were  now  compelled  to  believe 
the  Lord's  word  in  the  present, 
they  had  not  yet  strength  to 
believe  His  word  for  the  future. 
They  were  convinced  that  they 
would  never  again  see  their  lost 
Lord,  save  it  be  in  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  just,  and  their  faith, 
[12] 


Four  Faithful  Women 

which  was  that  of  personal  devo- 
tion, was  buried  with  Jesus  in 
His  garden  grave. 

They  gathered,  as  we  imagine, 
on  that  dreary  Sabbath,  in  the 
upper  room,  which  was  full  of 
sacred  memories,  and  behaved 
themselves  as  other  mourners 
have  done  in  the  same  circum- 
stances at  all  times.  For  the 
years  come  and  go,  but  sorrow 
does  not  change,  and  the  heart's 
bitterness  in  the  East  is  not 
different  from  that  in  the  West. 
That  company  of  mourners,  for 
whom  the  funeral  was  over, 
would  sit  in  silence  broken  only 
by  the  weeping  of  the  women, 
whom  the  men  could  not  com- 

[13] 


Foua  Faithful  Women 

fort,  because  they  had  no  comfort 
themselves. 

Certain  were  absent  from  the 
gathering  for  reasons  which 
every  one  understood.  John 
had  taken  the  mother  of  Jesus 
home  yesterday  afternoon,  and 
she  hid  her  grief  in  seclusion, 
while  the  friend  of  Jesus  re- 
mained with  her  to  share  her 
grief  and  do  what  he  could 
to  support  her  broken  heart. 
Thomas  was  absent,  not  because 
he  did  not  love,  but  because  he 
loved  so  much,  and  saw  no  good 
in  talk  when  hope  was  dead ;  and 
Peter  was  not  there,  because  he 
could  not  look  his  brethren  in  the 
face  after  he  had  denied  his  Lord. 

By  and  by  some  one  would 
[14] 


FouE  Faithful  Women 

break  the  silence  by  recalling 
the  life  of  the  last  three  years, 
and  then  another  would  follow, 
till  each  mourner  had  contributed 
some  work  or  word  of  the  Lord's. 
And  each  reminiscence  would 
feed  the  springs  of  sorrow.  How 
the  Master  had  called  upon  a 
young  maiden  just  dead,  and  she 
had  answered  His  voice,  so  that 
weeping  and  wailing  changed 
into  joy  and  peace  in  the  ruler's 
house;  but  there  was  no  one 
here  to  wipe  away  their  tears, 
or  fill  the  upper  room  with  light. 
How  He  had  pity  upon  a  widow's 
heart,  and  restored  to  her  a  son 
whom  death  had  taken  as  his 
spoil;  but  there  was  no  power 
to  give  back  to  the  most  bereaved 
[15] 


FouE  Faithful  Women 

mother  the  kindest  of  all  sons. 
How  He  Himself  had  missed  His 
friend  Lazarus,  and  commanded 
him  to  return  from  his  rocky 
tomb,  and  Lazarus  came,  because 
death  was  not  able  to  separate 
the  friends;  but  none  of  them, 
though  they  were  all  His  friends, 
could  make  their  Master  hear  in 
Joseph's  tomb.  Three  years  of 
perfect  fellowship,  such  as  before 
had  never  been  given  to  un- 
worthy men,  and  never  could 
be  given  again,  and  now  their 
day  of  grace  and  brightness 
was  forever  over,  and  for  them 
there  remained  nothing  but  the 
memory  of  perfect  goodness 
without  the  shadow  of  a  fault. 
Theirs  was  an  incalculable  and 
[16] 


FouE  Faithful  Women 

irreparable  loss,  and  yet,  so  fond 
a  thing  is  the  human  heart,  none 
of  this  company,  not  even  Thomas 
himself,  would  have  wished  the 
three  years  blotted  out,  but 
every  one  would  count  them 
the  chief  treasure  of  his  heart. 

Four  faithful  souls  had  not 
yet  done  with  Jesus,  for,  though 
they  did  not  expect  to  see  Him 
again.  His  dust  was  precious  to 
them,  and  they  had  still  certain 
last  offices  of  kindness  to  render. 
When  the  body  was  laid  in  the 
tomb,  they  marked  the  spot,  and 
it  was  their  intention  when  the 
Sabbath  closed  and  the  day  had 
broken  to  enrich  with  spices 
the  tabernacle  from  which  the 

[17] 


Four  Faithful  Women 

Lord  had  fled.  One  was  Mary- 
Magdalene,  and  another  was  Mary 
the  mother  of  James,  and  a  third 
was  Salome,  John's  mother,  and 
the  fourth  was  Joanna,  a  lady  of 
Herod's  court.  Between  them 
all  there  had  been  a  conspiracy 
that  without  the  help  of  any  one, 
and  in  spite  of  any  hindrance, 
they  should  accomplish  their  last 
service  to  the  Lord.  They  had 
gathered  in  Salome's  house;  but 
no  one  must  know,  not  even 
Mary  the  mother  of  Jesus,  who 
had  suffered  enough,  nor  John, 
who  might  not  have  allowed 
them  to  go  on  such  an  errand. 
They  were  cunning  in  their  love, 
and  a  woman  can  ever  outwit 
a  man  when  love  is  her  guide; 

[18  J 


Four  Faithful  Women 

and  they  would  do  this  thing 
by  themselves,  and  none  should 
know  till  it  was  done. 

Through  the  night  they  waited 
and  watched  for  the  day,  and 
it  seemed  as  if  night  had  never 
been  so  long;  and,  when  hour 
followed  hour  with  leaden  feet, 
and  still  there  was  no  sign  of 
morning,  the  four  lost  patience. 
They  read  a  common  resolution 
in  one  another's  faces,  and  like 
a  thief  they  quietly  stole  from 
the  house.  Through  the  night 
which  is  darkest  before  the  dawn, 
and  through  the  silent  city  which 
seemed  as  if  it  were  dead,  they 
made  their  way  with  cautious 
step  but  steadfast  hearts  to 
Joseph's  garden.  Was  there 
[19] 


Four  Faithful  Women 

ever  such  an  instance  of  women's 
unreasoning  and  unguarded  love? 
Why  could  they  not  wait!  It 
would  only  be  an  hour  or  so  more, 
and  then  the  sun  had  risen.  Had 
they  forgotten  the  dangers  of  the 
city  to  four  women  in  the  dark- 
ness? and  what  availed  their  go- 
ing to  the  sepulchre,  with  that 
great  stone  lying  upon  its  mouth! 
Could  women's  hands  or  women's 
love  remove  that  stone!  Sensi- 
ble questions  and  unanswerable, 
but  they  are  out  of  place  this 
morning,  for  the  women  have 
obeyed  the  imperious  instinct 
of  their  hearts,  and  the  issue  is 
with  Grod. 

Very  early  had  they  arisen, 
[20] 


Four  Faithful  Women 

but  their  Lord  had  risen  earlier; 
for,  while  they  were  watching 
with  weary  hearts  for  the  day 
which  seemed  never  likely  to 
break,  He  had  folded  up  His 
grave-clothes  and  laid  them  aside, 
and  had  come  forth  as  the  Sun 
of  Eighteousness,  before  whom 
death  and  darkness  fled.  When 
the  four  reached  the  garden,  the 
day  was  breaking  with  shimmer- 
ing light,  and  to  their  amazement 
the  sepulchre  of  the  Lord  was 
empty.  They  had  wondered  who 
should  roll  away  the  stone,  but 
there  was  no  stone  to  hinder 
their  entrance;  they  had  an  un- 
covenanted  tryst  with  Christ, 
but,  behold,  He  had  been  faith- 
less once  at  least,  and  had  not 
[21] 


Four  Faithful  Women 

kept  it;  they  had  spices  with 
them  which  were  not  so  fragrant 
as  His  love,  but  now  they  were 
vain  and  useless. 

Yet  their  Master  had  not  for- 
gotten them,  but,  expecting  this 
early  visit,  had  left  two  of  His 
heavenly  friends,  the  holy  angels, 
to  give  a  message  to  His  earthly 
friends  and  to  bid  them  be  of 
good  cheer.  *  Why  seek  ye  the 
living  among  the  dead?  '  said  the 
shining  ones,  with  kindly  rebuke 
filled  to  the  brim  with  consola- 
tion. *  He  is  not  here,  but  is 
risen.'  And  the  angels  com- 
manded the  women  in  the  Lord's 
name  to  return  to  the  disciples 
and  to  assure  them  of  the  res- 
urrection. They  had  watched 
[22] 


Four  Faithful  Women 

for  the  Lord,  though  it  was  only 
for  His  body,  as  those  that 
watch  for  the  morning,  and  the 
morning  had  come  with  the  an- 
gels and  words  of  gladness. 

Through  the  streets  they 
hurried,  which  were  now  full 
of  soft  morning  light,  and  on 
every  side  the  city  was  awaken- 
ing to  light,  and  they  imagined 
the  joy  of  their  coming  into  the 
upper  room,  where  the  disciples 
would  again  be  gathered,  and 
the  effect  of  their  message. 
What  the  angels  had  been  to 
them  they  would  be  to  their 
friends. 

Alas  for  a  woman's  emotion! 
alas  for  a  man's  hard  common 
[23] 


FouE  Faithful  Women 

sense!  When  they  burst  into 
the  room  with  the  new  spirit  of 
the  resurrection,  the  disciples 
stared  at  them,  and  the  very- 
look  was  a  rebuke.  As  they 
told  their  tale  of  an  empty  tomb 
— they  had  seen  no  Lord — one 
disciple  would  look  at  another 
and  raise  his  eyebrows,  and  the 
other  would  shake  his  head,  and 
both  were  sure  that  they  under- 
stood the  situation.  Those  good 
women!  They  had  been  watch- 
ing all  night — ^women  will  do 
such  things;  apostles  had  slept, 
even  in  Gethsemane.  They  had 
been  weeping  till  their  eyes  were 
nearly  blind — 'tis  a  woman's 
way,  for  God  has  made  them  so, 
not  calm  and  self-restrained  like 
[24] 


Four  Faithful  Women 

men.  Then  they  went  on  their 
wild  journey — ^was  there  no  man 
there  to  prevent  them?  And 
through  their  tears  and  in  the 
uncertain  morning  light  they 
supposed  that  they  had  seen 
angels  and  heard  voices.  Those 
good  women !  For  a  moment  the 
disciples  almost  expected  that 
the  women  had  some  good  news 
to  tell,  but  now  any  one  could 
understand  how  it  all  happened. 
No  one  would  be  so  cruel  as  to 
accuse  them  of  falsehood,  none 
so  ungenerous  as  flatly  to  deny 
their  message;  but,  as  the 
women  looked  round  on  the 
faces  of  their  friends,  they  knew 
that  they  had  only  told  to  them 
an  idle  tale,  and  their  enthusiasm 
[25] 


FouE  Faithful  Women 

broke  like  spray  upon  the  calm, 
cold  front  of  a  man's  solid  reason. 

Mary  Magdalene  was  more 
fortunate  than  her  fellows,  as 
she  was  that  day  to  be  more 
honoured  by  her  Lord,  for,  while 
the  others  went  with  their 
message  to  the  general  company 
of  disciples,  she  was  sent  on  an 
errand  of  her  own  to  John  and 
Peter.  The  devotion  of  the  one 
and  the  energy  of  the  other  gave 
Mary  a  better  audience,  and  she 
had  no  sooner  told  her  story  than 
the  two  apostles  flung  themselves 
out  of  their  home,  and  started 
on  a  race  of  love  to  verify  the 
rising  of  the  Lord.  John  was  the 
quieter  man,  to  whom  all  haste 
[26] 


FouE  Faithful  Women 

and  display  were  alien;  but  love 
gave  wings  to  his  feet  that  day, 
and  the  city  through  which  he 
passed  was  unseen  and  forgotten. 
When  he  arrived  at  the  empty 
tomb,  he  did  not  enter,  because 
to  him  the  place  where  the  Lord 
had  lain  was  sacred.  But  when 
Peter,  whom  he  had  for  once 
outdistanced  in  his  haste,  stood 
beside  him,  he  did  not  hesitate, 
but  entered  in  and  made  certain 
that  the  Lord  had  risen.  So 
there  were  two  men  at  least  who 
shared  the  women's  faith,  and 
did  not  count  their  message  to 
be  foolishness,  and  there  will 
always  be  men  who,  through 
either  the  purity  of  their  hearts 
or  the  warmth  of  their  affections, 
[27] 


Four  Faithful  Women 

will  sympathise  with  the  spir- 
itual instincts  of  women,  and  will 
share  the  blessing  that  rests  upon 
women's  spiritual  love. 

Who  were  wiser  that  day,  the 
men  with  their  shrewdness  and 
their  slowness  to  believe,  or  the 
women  with  their  unworldly 
mind  and  their  fond  hearts? 
Can  nothing  happen  which  has 
not  happened  before,  and  is 
past  experience  the  limit  of  the 
Almighty?  Is  there  nothing 
except  that  which  is  seen,  and 
no  power  in  reserve  which  we 
have  not  tested?  Is  not  life 
greater  than  death,  and  the 
unseen  world  encompassing  us 
on  every  side?  And  is  there 
not  a  blessing  which  hath  not 
[28] 


Four  Faithful  Women 

entered  into  the  heart  of  man, 
ready  for  those  who  believe 
because  they  love,  and  are  ready 
to  serve  even  when  service  seems 
to  be  in  vain! 


[29] 


9  i^inmt 


n 

A  SINNER 

The  history  of  the  Church  is  the 
record  of  honour  which  God  has 
bestowed  upon  elect  souls,  and 
some  of  those  honours  are  to  be 
chiefly  coveted,  and  those  who 
receive  them  are  ever  to  be 
envied.  The  man,  for  instance, 
who  first  was  called  by  the 
Divine  voice,  and  in  his  faith 
left  home  and  friends,  to  follow 
God;  the  first  prophet  whose 
ear  the  Almighty  uncovered,  and 
who  declared  the  will  of  God 
[33] 


A  Sinner 

with  authority  to  his  generation; 
the  first  disciple  who  accepted 
the  Son  of  God  as  his  master, 
and  entered  on  the  way  of  the 
Holy  Cross ;  and  the  first  martyr 
who  laid  down  his  life  for  the 
love  of  the  Lord,  and  sealed  his 
testimony  to  the  gospel  with  his 
own  blood.  Neither  the  passing 
of  centuries  nor  the  changes  of 
life  can  depose  those  favoured 
persons  from  their  place,  nor  take 
away  their  crown.  Yet  there 
remains  an  honour  more  intimate 
and  more  gracious,  which  marked 
the  daybreak  of  the  Church,  and 
that  was  to  be  the  first  witness 
of  the  Lord's  resurrection.  The 
thoughts  of  our  Master  are  not 
as  ours,  neither  are  His  ways  as 
[34] 


A  Sinner 

our  ways.  Having  this  guerdon 
of  His  love  to  bestow — the  first 
crown  from  the  hands  of  the 
risen  King — He  did  not  choose 
St.  Peter  of  the  apostles,  nor 
St.  John  among  his  friends,  but 
He  revealed  Himself  to  one  whom 
He  had  lifted  from  the  depths  of 
sin  and  set  upon  the  heights  of 
love — and  the  Lord  '  appeared 
first  to  Mary  Magdalene,  out 
of  whom  He  had  cast  seven 
devils. ' 

This  faithful  lover  of  the  Lord 
had  been  among  the  four  women 
who  had  found  the  empty  grave 
at  the  rising  of  the  sun,  and  she 
had  already  been  distinguished 
as  the  messenger  to  carry  the 
good  tidings  to  Peter  and  John. 
[35] 


A    SiNNEE 

Joy  had  winged  her  feet  as  she 
went  with  the  angel's  words, 
and,  drawn  by  the  irresistible 
attraction  of  the  empty  tomb, 
she  followed  the  two  apostles  to 
the  garden.  Her  woman's  step, 
even  with  the  aid  of  hope,  could 
not  keep  time  with  men  who 
must  needs  run  that  they  might 
verify  the  amazing  tale.  When 
Mary  came  to  the  place  the 
apostles  had  come  and  gone. 
The  garden  was  empty,  and  she 
was  alone.  And  then  set  in  the 
reaction  which  follows  moments 
of  supreme  emotion.  The  shining 
ones  had  told  her  that  Christ 
was  risen,  and  for  the  moment, 
overcome  by  their  authority,  she 
had  believed  and  been  glad,  for 
[36] 


A    SiNNEE 

she  took  for  granted  that  if  the 
Lord  were  risen  He  would  imme- 
diately be  seen,  and  that  she  who 
had  come  to  care  for  His  body 
would  look  upon  His  face.  Had 
she  been  deceived,  and  believed 
what  was  too  good  to  be  true? 
Eisen  He  might  be;  gone  He 
certainly  was.  The  longing  for 
sight,  which  is  strong  with  us  all, 
and  most  imperious  with  a  woman 
whose  whole  affection  centres  in 
a  person,  took  hold  of  Mary 
Magdalene  and  overwhelmed  both 
faith  and  hope.  Had  she  only 
the  dear  remains  upon  which  she 
had  counted  in  the  morning  she 
would  not  be  utterly  bereaved, 
but  now  she  stretched  out  her 
hands  and  her  heart  to  emptiness, 
[37] 


A  Sinner 

and  Mary  Magdalene  tasted  the 
agony  of  those  passionate  hearts 
which  rise  in  turn  to  the  height 
of  sunlit  joy  to  sink  into  the 
black  depths  of  despair. 

Far  from  the  tomb  she  could 
not  wander,  who  was  now  indeed 
carrying  that  grave  within  her 
heart;  and  again  she  looked  in, 
who  did  not  venture  to  enter. 
The  servants  of  the  Lord  were 
there  as  before,  to  meet  and 
comfort,  for  none  are  more  faith- 
ful and  patient  in  our  days  of 
trouble  than  the  angels;  but  it 
is  a  proof  of  her  hopelessness 
that  their  presence  brought  her 
now  no  cheer.  Her  heart  in  its 
foolishness  of  love  had  read  too 
much  into  their  words,  though 
[38] 


A  Sinner 

they  seemed  plain  enough  an 
hour  ago ;  now  she  was  compelled 
to  take  them  at  the  lowest 
meaning;  now  she  would  put 
aside  her  fond  grief  and  be 
practical  and  sensible.  She  had 
been  weeping  in  the  garden  and 
looking  into  the  sepulchre;  she 
still  wept,  but  behind  the  tears 
she  had  her  design — the  only 
service  and  the  only  comfort  left 
to  her.  *  Woman,'  said  the 
shining  one,  *  why  weepest 
thou?  ' — to  whom  we  brought 
good  tidings,  who  lately  was  so 
glad.  She  does  not  reproach 
them  with  the  words  which  had 
deceived  her,  or  with  which  she 
had  deceived  herself;  it  was  no 
use  inquiring  who  was  to  blame. 
[39] 


A  Sinner 

She  would  take  things  as  they 
stood.  And  this  was  plain  to 
her,  that  Jesus  might  be  gone, 
but  He  was  not  alive,  or  else  He 
had  made  Himself  known  to  the 
fond  hearts  who  loved  Him,  and 
whom  He  loved.  One  complaint 
only  she  had  to  make,  and  she 
knew  not  to  whom  to  make  it. 
*  They  have  taken  away  my  Lord, 
and  I  know  not  where  they  have 
laid  Him.'  She  wept  now  be- 
cause the  tomb  was  empty,  as 
once  she  had  wept  because  it  was 
filled.  She  had  rejoiced  in  the 
hope  of  seeing  her  living  Lord; 
she  were  content  now  with  a 
dead  Lord.  She  says  *  my  Lord,' 
with  a  woman's  sense  of  jeal- 
ous possession,  with  a  woman's 
[40] 


A    SiNNEE 

resentment  of  a  stranger's  inter- 
ference. 

The  angels  did  not  answer 
Mary,  for  they  saw  what  she  did 
not  yet  see,  and  they  knew  that 
their  work  was  done ;  they  might 
leave  the  grave  now,  and  go 
upon  other  errands,  for  the  Lord 
had  come  Himself  to  be  His 
disciple's  comforter.  Even  while 
she  spoke  to  the  angels  Mary 
had  a  sense  that  some  one  was 
standing  near.  It  may  have  been 
the  shadow  flung  upon  the  tomb, 
or  the  sound  of  His  footsteps, 
or  only  the  feeling  of  a  human 
presence;  but  without  waiting 
for  the  angePs  answer,  Mary 
turned  round.  Some  one  was 
standing  near  her;  who  he  was 
[41] 


A  Sinner 

she  could  not  tell,  for  she  hardly 
looked  at  him,  and  her  eyes  were 
dim  with  weeping;  but  whoever 
he  might  be,  at  least  he  was 
compassionate,  and  understand- 
ing. He  took  up  the  angePs 
question,  which  will  be  asked  of 
woman  while  the  world  last: 
'  Why  weepest  thou?  '  And 
then  he  showed  that  he  could 
enter  into  a  woman's  heart,  for 
he  added,  *  Whom  seekest  thou?  ' 
For  men  seek  after  gold  and 
honour,  and  weep  when  they  do 
not  get  them;  but  women  seek 
after  love,  and  weep  when  the 
loved  one  is  lost.  *  What  seekest 
thou!  '  had  been  more  likely  for 
a  man,  *  Whom  seekest  thou?  ' 
was  the  tribute  paid  to  a  woman. 
[42] 


A    SiNNEE 

Some  note  in  his  words  caught 
her  ear,  and  suggested  to  her 
mind  the  solution  of  this  mys- 
tery. She  rememhered  that  Jesus, 
having  no  grave  of  His  own,  had 
been  dependent  on  a  stranger 
for  His  resting-place,  and  was 
indeed  only  a  guest  in  the  matter 
of  a  grave.  Since  she  had  known 
the  Lord  He  had  owned  no  home, 
and  had  laid  His  head  beneath 
the  roof  of  strangers,  and  now 
He  had  suffered  the  strangers' 
penalty.  For  a  night  they  had 
allowed  Him  to  rest  in  this  rich 
man's  tomb,  because  there  was 
no  other  place  to  put  Him;  but 
now  they  had  removed  His  body, 
that  this  fine  sepulchre  might  be 
left  vacant  for  the  owner;  and 
[43] 


A    SiNNEE 

Jesus'  body  had  been  laid  out  of 
sight  in  some  common  ground. 
This  man  had  charge  of  the 
garden,  and  most  likely  had 
directed  the  removal.  It  was  an 
inhospitable  thing  to  do;  heart- 
less, and  cruel  to  the  poor  dead, 
who  had  room  in  His  heart  for 
all  strangers  and  their  sorrows. 
They  might  have  allowed  the 
Lord  to  lie  in  peace,  who  had 
given  peace  to  many  souls.  But 
there  was  no  use  complaining. 
Mary  had  no  heart  for  reproaches 
nor  for  arguments.  She  was  a 
woman  who  once  could  have 
spoken  and  made  men's  ears 
tingle;  she  had  love  enough  in 
her  heart  to  be  a  raging  fire,  and 
to  burn  any  one  who  touched 
[44] 


A  Sinner 

her  beloved.  To-day  slie  was  a 
broken  and  humbled  woman  with 
only  one  desire — to  find  *  my 
Lord.'  She  would  be  respectful 
even  and  conciliatory  with  this 
servant,  who  in  his  little  hour  of 
authority  had  rifled  the  grave, 
and  cast  out  her  Lord,  and 
crowned  the  inhospitality  of  his- 
tory. *  Sir,'  she  said  to  him,  *  if 
it  is  thou  who  hast  borne  Him 
hence,  I  have  only  one  thing  to 
ask,  if  thou  wilt  grant  it  of  thy 
goodness.  Tell  me  the  corner, 
hidden  and  out  of  the  way,  where 
thou  hast  laid  Him.  I  make  no 
complaint,  but  for  thee  He  was 
nothing  but  a  crucified  man,  but 
He  was  everything  to  me.  You 
will  not  be  troubled  with  Him  in 
[45] 


A  Sinner 

this  garden,  for  though  I  be  only 
a  woman,  helpless  and  despised, 
I  will  take  my  Lord  away,  and 
find  for  Him  a  grave  that  shall 
be  His  own,  and  mine.  This  is 
all  I  can  do,  but  if  you  will  only 
show  me  the  place,  this  I  will 
do,  for  it  is  nothing  compared  to 
what  He  did  for  me.' 

While  she  spoke  she  did  not 
look  at  the  gardener,  but  rather 
turned  aside,  as  a  woman  in  such 
a  moment  of  strong  feeling  was 
likely  to  do.  For  an  instant 
there  was  silence,  and  then  the 
gardener  said,  *  Mary!  '  It  was 
only  a  single  word,  but  a  word 
can  be  more  than  volumes  spoken 
by  the  lips  which  speak  it. 
Between  strangers  a  word  is  only 
[46] 


A  Sinner 

so  many  syllables  and  so  nmch 
sound;  it  means  just  what  it 
must  mean  on  the  surface,  and 
nothing  more.  Between  friends 
who  have  passed  through  chief 
moments  of  life  together,  who 
have  lived  in  closest  fellowship, 
who,  looking  into  one  another  *s 
eyes,  have  seen  one  another's 
hearts,  a  word  becomes  a  symbol, 
and  a  message,  and  a  revelation, 
and  a  gift.  For  a  stranger  to 
call  you  by  your  name  is  nothing, 
no  more  than  if  he  had  called 
you  by  a  figure.  When  the  per- 
son whom  you  love  pronounces 
your  name,  the  sound  goes 
through  your  being,  awakening 
sacred  memories  and  making  ten- 
der your  heart.  The  name  now  is 
[  47  ] 


A  Sinner 

poetry  and  music;  it  is  a  golden 
cup  filled  with  cordial;  it  is  a 
casket  filled  with  jewels.  Jesus 
had  a  way  of  saying  *  Mary  ' 
which  no  other  had,  and  she 
never  knew  how  beautiful  her 
name  was  till  it  fell  from  His 
lips;  and  at  the  sound  of  the 
word  the  mist  passed  away  from 
her  eyes,  and  the  gardener 
changed  into  *  my  Lord.' 

Turning  swiftly  round  at  the 
bidding  of  the  word,  she  flung 
herself  at  Jesus'  feet,  and  would 
have  taken  Him  by  His  garments, 
crying  in  her  native  dialect,  to 
which  people  fall  back  in  their 
tenderest  moments,  *  my  Master.' 
The  angels  then  had  spoken  the 
truth,  and  she  had  understood 
[48] 


A  Sinner 

them  aright  in  the  morning  hour. 
The  grave  was  empty,  not  be- 
cause it  had  been  robbed  of  the 
dead  body,  but  because  the  Lord 
was  alive  again.  All  He  had 
said  had  come  true.  How  had 
they  ever  forgotten  it?  All  they 
could  ever  have  hoped  was  now 
real.  How  should  they  ever 
have  doubted  it?  The  dark  and 
bitter  day  which  had  so  tried  her 
heart  was  over,  and  now  the 
little  company  of  friends  would 
gather  together  once  more,  and 
go  down  to  Galilee,  and  live  as 
they  did  before  the  shadow  of 
the  Cross  fell  upon  them.  How 
good  God  had  been,  for  she  had 
only  asked  to  have  the  Lord's 
body  and  a  place  where  she  could 
[49] 


A    SiNNEE 

lay  it,  that  there  she  might  weep 
every  year  at  Passover  time. 
But,  behold,  she  had  the  Lord's 
own  living  self — *  my  Master.' 

When  Jesus  replied  to  Mary 
and  almost  drew  Himself  away, 
saying,  *  Lay  no  hold  upon  me,' 
it  seemed  unlike  our  Lord,  and  a 
chilling  return  for  her  love.  One 
remembers  how  He  responded  to 
a  woman's  touch  when  she  had 
only  faith  enough  to  grasp  the 
hem  of  His  garment,  how  He 
welcomed  a  woman's  devotion 
when  she  anointed  His  feet  with 
ointment;  and  now  He  would 
not  allow  this  joyful  disciple  to 
clasp  His  feet  in  the  supreme 
moment  of  relief  and  gladness. 
His  explanation,  however,  follows 
[50] 


A  Sinner 

close  upon  His  refusal,  and  turns 
it  into  a  revelation.  Better 
things  were  in  store  for  Mary 
than  she  had  imagined,  for  the 
Resurrection  was  only  the  prelude 
to  the  Ascension,  and  the  Ascen- 
sion would  begin  the  perfect 
fellowship.  Jesus  was  to  ascend 
to  His  father  and  their  Father, 
to  His  God  and  their  God.  And 
in  the  Father  Jesus  and  all  His 
disciples  were  brethren,  and 
would  live  together,  the  brother 
life  as  it  were,  in  the  Father's 
house.  It  would  not  be,  as  in 
time  past,  that  they  should  see 
Him  one  day,  and  be  separated 
from  Him  the  next,  that  they 
should  depend  upon  His  spoken 
words  and  His  visible  presence, 
[51] 


A    SiNNEE 

for  He  would  be  with  them 
always  and  in  all  places,  sharing 
their  lot  both  in  joy  and  sorrow, 
and  living  in  their  hearts.  Mary 
and  the  other  disciples  had  known 
the  Lord  in  the  jflesh;  they  would 
know  Him  henceforward  in  the 
spirit.  And  they  who  had  learned 
to  love  Him  whom  they  saw, 
must  learn  to  trust  Him  when 
unseen.  He  had  risen  from  the 
dead,  and  by  and  by  He  would 
ascend  into  the  heavenly  places, 
and  their  faith  must  rise  from 
earth  to  heaven,  till  it  was  rooted 
and  grounded  in  the  Lord,  at  the 
right  hand  of  God  the  Father. 

They     are     blessed     between 
whom  and  the  Master  there  have 
been  such  passages  of  friendship 
[52] 


A  Sinner 

that  He  calls  them  by  their 
name  with  the  accent  of  love, 
and  who  at  the  sound  of  their 
name  can  recognise  their  Lord. 
It  matters  not  to  them  in  what 
circumstances  of  their  life  they 
meet  the  Lord,  nor  how  He 
appears.  They  need  no  evidences 
and  no  testimony  to  identify 
Him.  It  is  enough  that  He 
should  call,  and  their  souls,  hear- 
ing in  their  name  His  password, 
answer  back,  *  Master.'  Twice 
blessed  are  they  whose  faith  is 
not  confined  to  times  and  seasons, 
to  rites  and  sacraments,  but  has 
so  apprehended  the  risen  and 
spiritual  Christ  that  He  is  ever 
with  them — in  the  city  where 
the  multitude  is  hurrying  to  and 
[53] 


A  Sinner 

fro,  as  well  as  in  the  garden 
where  there  is  none  passing;  in 
the  place  of  feasting  where  He 
shows  His  grace  of  humility  and 
service,  and  at  the  grave's  mouth 
where  He  brings  life  and  com- 
fort. Most  blessed  they  who 
shall  see  the  Lord  in  the  dawning 
of  the  Resurrection  morning,  and 
shall  follow  Him  when  sorrow 
has  passed  away,  and  He  leads 
His  people  to  living  fountains  of 
water. 


[54] 


9  ^atMOner 


m 

A  BACKSLIDER 

The  second  appearance  of  our 
Lord  on  Easter  Day  is  veiled  in 
a  certain  mystery  of  circum- 
stances, for  there  is  no  record 
of  where  it  took  place  or  of  what 
passed  between  the  two.  Few 
words  may,  however,  record  a 
chief  fact,  and  their  very  brevity 
is  invested  with  significance; 
and  it  is  with  marked  emphasis 
that  St.  Luke  reports  the  joyful 
greeting  of  the  disciples  on  the 
evening  of  the  great  day,  when 
[57] 


A  Backslider 

they  said  to  the  friends  return- 
ing from  Emmaus,  ^  The  Lord  is 
risen  indeed,  and  hath  appeared 
to  Simon.'  And  in  St.  Paul's 
chapter  of  immortal  hope,  when 
he  declares  the  doctrine  of  the 
resurrection  to  the  Corinthian 
Church,  he  writes :  *  He  was  seen 
of  Cephas,  then  of  the  twelve.' 

The  understanding  of  the  dis- 
ciples on  that  day  of  spiritual 
intensity  was  quick,  and  their 
hearts  were  tender;  and  one 
gathers  that  they  entered  into 
the  singular  grace  of  our  Lord's 
revelation  to  Simon  Peter.  Be- 
fore the  chief  day  in  human 
history — a  day  more  charged 
with  hope  and  strength  than  all 
other  days  put  together — ^had 
[58] 


A  Backslider 

come  to  an  end,  the  Master  would 
show  Himself  unto  the  body  of 
His  disciples,  but  it  was  His  will 
for  reasons  of  His  goodness  to 
meet  in  private  with  certain  of 
His  friends.  First  He  showed 
Himself  to  Mary  Magdalene  in 
the  morning,  because  she  loved  so 
much,  and  forever  in  the  experi- 
ence of  the  soul  love  will  have 
the  earliest  vision  and  the 
gentlest,  though  it  may  see 
through  tears.  The  second  was 
at  noontide  of  the  day,  and  it 
was  to  an  apostle,  because  he 
had  sinned  so  much  and  was  so 
utterly  broken-hearted,  and  re- 
pentance will  never  fail  to  secure 
the  Lord's  presence  and  the 
showing  of  His  face.  First  to 
[59] 


A  Backslider 

Mary  Magdalene  (and  to  other 
women  also).  Next  to  St.  Peter, 
earliest  witness  from  among  the 
apostles. 

Were  merit  the  rule  of  our 
Lord's  dealing  with  His  disciples, 
then  it  would  fare  differently 
with  many  of  us,  and  He  had  not 
appeared  after  this  fashion  to 
Simon  Peter.  If  this  honour  had 
gone  by  deserts,  then  one  apostle 
might  have  claimed  it  for  his  own, 
and  he  had  received  it  by  consent, 
both  of  his  Lord  and  of  his  breth- 
ren. They  were  not  lifted  above 
petty  jealousies,  those  twelve 
apostles  of  the  Lord,  nor  were 
they  overwilling  to  honour  one 
another,  but  yet  they  did  ac- 
[60] 


A  Backslider 

knowledge  that  one  was  nearest  to 
the  Master.  They  gave  John  his 
place  where  he  could  lay  his  head 
on  the  Master's  breast;  through 
him  they  put  their  questions 
to  the  Master;  he  had  followed 
the  Master  to  the  high  priest's 
palace;  he  had  stood  beside  the 
Master's  cross;  into  his  hands 
Jesus  had  entrusted  His  mother, 
and  this  apostle  had  in  his  home 
the  dearest  treasure  of  his  Lord. 
It  might  have  been  expected 
that,  as  John  had  been  the  last 
apostle  with  whom  Jesus  spake 
before  He  laid  down  His  life,  he 
would  have  been  the  first  whom 
Jesus  would  greet  after  He  had 
taken  up  His  life  again.  There 
would  have  been  a  fitness  in  the 
[61] 


A  Backslider 

words :  *  The  Lord  is  risen  in- 
deed, and  hath  appeared  unto 
John  ';  and  none  of  the  apostles 
would  have  had  the  heart  to 
grudge. 

It  is  like  the  Lord  to  be  guided 
not  by  His  personal  liking,  but 
by  that  spirit  of  service  which 
He  ever  preached;  and  so  He 
went  not  first  to  John,  because 
He  loved  him  most,  but  to  Peter, 
because  Peter  needed  Him  most. 
One  dares  to  believe  in  justice  to 
the  apostles  that,  if  the  Lord  had 
asked  them  to  choose  that  one 
from  among  their  number  to 
whom  they  desired  Him  to  go 
without  delay,  they  would  have 
mentioned  Simon  Peter ;  for  none 
[62] 


A  Backslider 

of  them,  not  even  Thomas,  was 
in  such  a  strait,  and  none  of  them, 
not  even  John,  was  in  his  heart 
more  loyal.  It  was  like  the  Lord 
to  do  this  thing,  and  made  the 
Lord  dearer  to  them  than  ever, 
and  it  was  a  sure  evidence  that 
He  had  risen  from  the  dead, 
that,  out  of  the  eleven.  He  had 
appeared  first  to  Simon  Peter. 

It  had  been  St.  Peter's  fault 
that  he  ever  wished  to  be  first, 
and  first  he  had  been,  but  not  in 
honour,  nor  in  service,  but  first, 
without  any  rivalry,  in  treachery. 
There  is  a  competition  in  sin, 
and  sins  have  their  comparative 
value  of  demerit,  and  there  can 
be  no  question  that  St.  Peter  out- 
distanced all  his  brethren,  when 
[63] 


A  Backsmdee 

one  looks  at  the  pathetic  and 
intimate  circumstances  of  his 
sin.  The  other  disciples  had 
boasted  what  they  would  do  for 
their  Lord;  but  they  were  only 
Peter's  chorus,  compelled  to  keep 
tune  with  him  when  he  declared 
his  valiant  loyalty.  The  other 
disciples  had  also  slept  in  the 
garden,  but  they  had  not  prom- 
ised to  be  the  Lord's  body- 
guard. They  all  fled  and  left 
their  Lord;  but  none  of  them, 
except  this  man,  had  gone  into 
the  high  priest's  palace,  and 
thrust  himself  among  the  guards 
of  Christ,  as  if  on  very  purpose 
to  put  the  Lord  to  shame,  and 
do  Him  greater  insult  than  when 
His  enemies  spat  upon  His  face 
[64] 


A  Backslider 

and  pressed  the  jagged  thorns 
upon  His  brow. 

Judas  Iscariot  had  plotted 
against  the  Lord,  and  betrayed 
Him  to  the  priests,  and  sold 
Him  for  money,  and  kissed  Him 
on  the  mouth.  It  was  a  hideous 
and  incredible  crime,  and — taken 
simply  in  itself  as  a  bare,  black 
fact — that  is  the  master  crime  of 
the  human  race.  But  Judas  had 
always  been  a  man  of  mean,  lean 
soul,  hedged  round  and  blinded 
by  this  present  world,  and  inca- 
pable of  spiritual  vision.  He  had 
never  been  the  friend  of  Jesus, 
and  never  had  been  touched  by 
the  divine  fascination  of  the 
Master;  he  had  never  entered 
into  the  Master's  mind,  or  had  a 
[65] 


A  Backslider 

glimpse  of  the  glory  of  the  king- 
dom of  God. 

Simon  Peter  was  one  of  the 
Lord's  first  disciples,  who  had 
been  prepared  by  the  Baptist 
for  Christ,  and  had  thrown  him- 
self into  the  Master's  cause  with 
generous,  uncalculating  enthusi- 
asm. He  had  hung  upon  the 
Master's  lips,  he  had  laid  himself 
at  the  Master 's  feet,  he  had  loved 
the  Master  with  all  his  heart, 
and  had  been  willing,  as  he 
believed,  to  die  for  the  Master's 
sake.  This  man  had  made  the  chief 
confession  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  this  man  had  received 
the  Lord's  chief  promise.  And 
it  was  he  who  had  gone  out  of 
[66] 


A  Backslider 

his  way  to  deny  the  Lord,  and 
invested  his  denial  with  every 
circumstance  of  offence.  Choos- 
ing the  time  when  the  Lord 
needed  friends  most,  taking  for 
his  witnesses  the  ignoble  rabble 
of  the  high  priest's  servants, 
trampling  upon  his  flag  at  the 
invitation  of  a  serving  girl,  as- 
serting that  not  only  was  he  not 
a  friend  of  Jesus,  but  that  he  did 
not  even  know  Him,  and  crown- 
ing all  this  falsehood  and  igno- 
miny by  curses  which  he  had 
learned  at  his  fishing  trade,  but 
had  forgotten  for  a  while  in 
Jesus 's  company.  If  in  the  world 
Judas  must  have  the  place  of 
chief  sinner,  within  the  Church  it 
belongs  to  Simon  Peter,  to  whom 
[67] 


A  Backslider 

the  Lord  revealed  Himself  alone 
on  Easter  Day. 

According  to  Simon  Peter's  sin 
was  the  keenness  of  his  remorse, 
and  among  the  disciples  there 
was  none,  and  could  be  none, 
with  a  heart  so  sore  on  Easter 
Day.  They  all  mourned  because 
they  had  lost  their  Lord,  but 
between  their  regret  and  his 
there  was  a  great  gulf  fixed,  since 
they  had  only  lost,  but  he  had 
also  denied.  They  had  seen  the 
Lord  last  in  the  moonlight  of 
Gethsemane,  sad  enough  sight; 
he  had  seen  Him  last  in  the 
firelight  of  the  high  priest's 
palace,  far  sadder  sight.  In  the 
garden  Jesus  had  interceded  for 
[68] 


A  Backslider 

the  eleven  that  they  might  go 
free;  but  in  the  courtyard  He 
had  looked  on  him,  and  he  had 
gone  bound  with  sorrow  into  the 
darkness. 

They  all  longed  to  see  their 
Lord  again,  but  none  of  them  had 
a  reason  so  keen ;  for  the  ten  only 
desired  to  satisfy  themselves  with 
His  visible  presence,  who  had 
been  the  light  of  their  lives,  but 
he  had  to  ask  His  forgiving 
mercy  for  the  last  outrage  on 
friendship.  If  only  he  could  have 
one  minute  alone  with  his  Lord, 
although  he  never  saw  Him  again, 
to  explain  himself,  and  to  beseech 
forgiveness!  He  could  not  even 
now  tell  how  he  had  come  to  do 
so  cruel  and  wicked  an  action, 
[69] 


A  Backslider 

but  he  could  entreat  the  Lord  to 
believe  that  his  heart  was  not 
utterly  that  of  a  traitor,  and  that 
he  was  not,  whatever  it  might  ap- 
pear, the  same  as  Judas.  What 
he  had  done  he  had  done,  and 
there  was  no  one  to  blame  but 
himself,  his  pride,  his  boasting, 
and  his  cowardice;  but  still  he 
loved,  and  in  the  depths  of  his 
heart  was  true. 

He  lashed  himself  with  scorn 
and  bitter  self-upbraiding,  more 
cruel  than  the  thongs  which 
lacerated  the  shoulders  of  the 
Master,  but  Jesus  did  not  know. 
He  cried  aloud,  and  broke  the 
night  air  with  his  weeping,  but 
Jesus  could  not  see.  All  Jesus 
[70] 


A  Backslider 

had  seen  was  His  apostle  keeping 
company  with  the  high  priest  ^s 
servants,  and  swearing  aloud  that 
he  had  never  known  his  Lord. 
Too  late  now  to  repent,  too 
late  now  to  ask  forgiveness;  it 
mattered  nothing  to  the  Lord 
now  who  denied  Him  or  who 
insulted  Him,  for  He  had  passed 
beyond  all  earthly  words,  and 
was  at  rest,  but  Peter  never  more 
could  be  at  rest.  0  that  the 
dead  could  be  brought  back  for 
the  briefest  time  that  we  might 
tell  them  that  we  had  not  in- 
tended so  to  wound  them,  or  so 
to  neglect  them !  But  they  sleep 
in  peace;  it  is  for  us  there  can- 
not be  peace  forever. 

It  was  like  the  Lord  that  His 

[71] 


A  Backslider 

pity  should  rest  upon  this  man, 
and  others  like  him,  beyond  all 
who  have  sinned  and  sorrowed; 
for  Jesus  ever  counted  the  agony 
of  the  heart  greater  than  the 
agony  of  the  life.  He  had  com- 
passion on  the  widow  who  lost 
her  only  son,  and  on  the  ruler 
who  lost  his  little  girl,  because 
He  loved  children  and  they  loved 
Him;  but  the  chief  sorrow  of  the 
world  is  not  the  death  of  friends. 
He  wept  over  Jerusalem,  which 
knew  not  the  day  of  her  visitation, 
and  had  rejected  the  anointed  of 
the  Lord;  He  was  cast  down  by 
Judas 's  betrayal,  and  was  in  pain 
till  Judas  left;  but  even  unbelief 
and  treachery  of  evil  hearts  are  not 
the  chief  sorrow.  The  most  cruel 
[72] 


A  Backslidee 

of  all  spiritual  agonies  is  that 
of  the  backslider  who  has  been 
received  into  the  Father's  house 
with  mercy  and  with  joy  and  has 
gone  again  into  the  far  country; 
who  has  been  decked  with  the 
robe  and  with  the  ring,  and  has 
sold  them  for  riotous  living ;  who 
has  abused  the  very  love  of  God 
and  made  His  grave  an  oppor- 
tunity for  sin.  When  he  cometh 
to  himself,  it  is  with  weeping  and 
with  trembling,  and  with  the  sor- 
row of  his  heart  none  can  meddle. 
Therefore  is  it  that  there  are 
no  promises  in  Scripture  so 
appealing  and  so  tender  as  those 
which  are  sent  after  the  back- 
slider by  the  voice  of  the 
prophets,  as  if  God,  who  had 
[73] 


A  Backslider 

been  Himself  so  deeply  wounded, 
alone  could  estimate  the  broken 
heart  of  them  who  wounded  Him. 
None  understood  Simon  Peter 
like  the  Master,  and  none  could 
enter  so  entirely  into  his  re- 
morse. While  Peter  thought  of 
Jesus,  his  Master  was  thinking 
of  him,  and  one  of  the  first  er- 
rands of  the  risen  Lord  was  to 
bind  up  the  broken  heart  of  His 
penitent  apostle. 

Where  they  met  we  are  not 
told,  but  we  may  allow  ourselves 
to  guess.  It  was  not  in  the 
upper  room,  for  Peter  could  not 
appear  among  the  disciples  till 
he  had  been  restored  by  the 
Lord;  it  would  not  be  in  John's 
[74] 


A  Backslidee 

kindly  house,  nor  could  it  be  in 
any  public  place,  for  this  meet- 
ing must  be  in  secret.  It  is  not 
likely  that  on  that  day  which 
had  opened  with  the  message  of 
Mary  Magdalene  and  the  sight 
of  the  empty  grave,  that  agitated 
heart  could  contain  itself  within 
any  walls,  however  friendly,  and 
we  may  assume  that  St.  Peter 
went  out  and  sought  for  some 
place  where  he  could  spend 
the  time  surrounded  by  the 
memory  of  his  Lord.  Was  it 
not  most  probable  that  he  turned 
to  that  garden  whither  he  had 
gone  with  the  Lord  from  the 
upper  room,  and  where  he  had 
been  afforded  so  great  an  in- 
timacy, so  that  where  the  Lord's 
[75] 


A  Backslider 

own  soul  had  been  wrung  till 
He  sweated  as  it  were  great 
drops  of  blood,  lie  might  also 
suffer  and  there — ^who  knows? — 
might  be  remembered  of  the 
Lord?  Did  he  seek  out  the  very 
spot  where  he  had  seen  Jesus  lie, 
and  there  cast  himself? 

What  passed  between  them, 
when  of  a  sudden  the  Lord  with 
the  marks  of  the  Passion  upon 
Him,  but  the  cup  of  the  Father's 
will  now  filled  with  joy,  stood 
beside  His  prostrate  apostle,  no 
evangelist  has  recorded,  because 
neither  Peter  nor  the  Lord  ever 
told.  There  was  to  be  a  public 
conversation  between  them,  full 
of  beautiful  emotions  which 
[76] 


A  Backslider 

would  be  recorded  for  our  in- 
struction, but  that  was  to  come 
later.  There  are  secrets  of  re- 
ligion which  cannot  be  put  in 
words,  and  which  it  were  a 
spiritual  indecency  to  breathe. 
There  are  revelations  of  God 
given  to  the  soul  which  belong 
to  the  third  heavens  and  not 
to  earth.  There  are  convictions 
which  are  surer  than  anything 
which  can  be  seen,  but  of  which 
we  can  give  no  proof  to  our 
fellowmen.  *  I  said,  I  will  con- 
fess my  transgressions  unto  the 
Lord,'  so  wrote  the  penitent 
backslider  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, '  and  Thou  forgavest  the 
iniquity  of  my  sin.'  Here  were 
the  prayer  and  the  answer,  but 
[77] 


A  Backslidee 

in  between  came  that  moment 
where  there  can  be  no  witness, 
of  which  there  can  be  no  descrip- 
tion. 

He  could  not  trust  his  melting  soul 

But  in  his  Maker's  sight  ; — 
Then  why  should  gentle  hearts  and  true 
Bare  to  the  rude  world's  withering  view 
Their  treasure  of  delight  ? 

Within  that  hour  St.  Peter 
was  again  converted  and  came 
forth  a  new  man.  Never  again 
would  he  exalt  himself  above 
his  brethren,  save  in  his  willing- 
ness to  suffer ;  never  again  would 
he  talk  of  himself,  save  of  his 
own  unworthiness.  He  would 
be  tried  in  days  to  come  as  he 
had  never  been  before,  and  he 
who  had  denied  the  Lord  at  the 
[78] 


A  Backslider 

word  of  a  girl  would  confess  the 
same  Lord  before  the  rulers  of  the 
people,  and  he  who  had  shrunk 
from  the  contempt  of  serving 
men  would  take  a  scourging  for 
the  Lord's  sake  joyfully.  Boldly 
would  he  preach  the  gospel, 
bravely  would  he  lead  the 
Church,  humbly  at  last  would  he 
die.  He  had  been  called  in  the 
Lord's  vast  charity,  who  saw  the 
best  and  not  the  worst  in  every 
one  of  His  disciples,  *  a  rock 
man,'  and  he  had  proved  to  be 
only  shifting  sand,  but  now  in  this 
fierce  fire  of  penitence  and  mercy, 
the  mercy  more  melting  even 
than  the  penitence,  the  sand  had 
been  welded  into  iron,  and  on  the 
foundation  of  this  man's  faith  so 
[79] 


A  Backslider 

clear,  so  modest,  so  lasting, 
would  be  reared  the  Church  of 
the  living  God,  wherein  every 
stone  is  a  sinner  converted,  for- 
given and  sanctified. 

Simon  Peter  has  not  been  the 
only  disciple  who  denied  and 
repented,  and  there  have  been 
many  secret  meetings  between 
the  Lord  and  His  Peters  since 
the  first  Easter  Day.  If  any  one 
be  overtaken  by  temptation  and 
fall,  to  the  grief  of  the  Lord  and 
the  undoing  of  his  own  soul,  it  is 
good  for  him  that  he  should  be 
covered  with  shame  and  that  his 
heart  should  be  broken,  that  he 
should  go  for  a  while  into  spiritual 
darkness,  and  be  grieved  in  his 
soul  before  all  men.  He  sorrows 
[80] 


A  Backslider 

not  in  such  days  as  those  who 
have  no  hope,  nor  is  he  misunder- 
stood or  forgotten  of  his  Lord. 
This  same  Jesus  remembers  not 
so  much  how  His  disciple  failed 
in  a  single  moment  of  trial,  as 
how  he  has  loved  all  the  other 
moments  of  his  life :  not  so  much 
what  His  disciple  did  in  the 
weakness  of  his  will,  but  what  he 
intended  to  do  in  the  loyalty 
of  his  heart.  If  Jesus  seems  to 
tarry,  and  leaves  him  alone  for 
a  little  in  his  Gethsemane,  it  is 
while  he  intercedes  for  him  with 
the  Father,  and  explains  that 
this  man  after  all  is  a  good  dis- 
ciple and  a  true  Son  of  God. 
When  the  time  is  ripe  and  the 
disciple  ^s  heart  is  ready,  then  will 
[81] 


A  Backslider 

the  Lord  appear.  When  no  man 
is  present  and  the  world  is  as 
if  it  never  had  been,  in  a  secret 
place  He  will  hear  the  disciple's 
confession.  In  that  hour  the 
disciple  can  do  nothing,  except 
lie  at  the  Lord's  feet,  and  He 
will  seal  upon  the  penitent  soul 
His  word  of  full  forgiveness.  It 
is  from  such  experiences  the 
soul  comes  forth  strong  through 
humility,  consecrated  through 
gratitude,  and  joyful  through 
vision,  to  suffer  and  to  conquer, 
and  so  the  gentleness  of  the  Lord 
makes  us  great. 


[82] 


(EDtDO  0t\}inavg  people 


IV 

TWO  OKDINARY  PEOPLE 

The  appearances  of  our  Lord 
on  Easter  Day  illustrate  the 
sovereignty  of  His  love  as  mucli 
as  the  mystery  of  His  body.  In 
the  early  dawn,  when  the  dew 
was  still  fresh  upon  the  earth, 
Jesus  revealed  Himself  to  Mary 
Magdalene;  when  it  was  noon- 
tide of  the  day,  and  men  were 
hiding  from  the  heat.  He  sought 
out  St.  Peter;  when  it  was 
toward  evening,  and  the  weary 
were  returning  from  their  labour, 
[85] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

He  joined  Himself  to  Cleopas 
and  his  friends;  and,  when  the 
darkness  had  fallen  and  the  doors 
were  shut,  He  appeared  unto  the 
company  of  the  disciples.  He 
showed  Himself  in  Joseph's 
garden,  and  also  in  the  garden 
of  Gethsemane,  upon  a  highroad 
and  in  the  upper  room.  Once  He 
rewarded  love,  once  He  absolved 
penitence,  once  He  enlightened 
darkness,  once  He  came  to  con- 
fer grace  upon  His  Church;  but 
the  interview  which  is  described 
most  carefully  and  tenderly  is 
that  which  the  Master  had  with 
the  travellers  to  Emmaus. 

Our  Master  has  a  warm  place 
in  His  heart  for  ordinary  people. 
[86] 


Two  Ordinaey  People 

When  Jesus  seeks  out  two 
disciples  on  Easter  Day,  and 
Himself  expounds  to  them  the 
Scriptures,  journeying  with  them 
upon  the  road  and  entering  into 
their  homes,  it  is  natural  for  us 
to  take  for  granted  that  they 
must  be  distinguished  persons 
in  the  Church,  and  to  be  curious 
about  their  history.  There  have 
been  many  attempts  to  identify 
Cleopas,  and  to  put  a  name  upon 
his  friend;  but  they  have  all 
come  to  nothing,  for  the  only 
thing  we  know  about  the  former 
is  that  we  must  not  suppose  him 
to  be  the  same  person  as  the 
Cleopas  whose  wife  stood  at  the 
Cross,  because,  although  the 
words  are  the  same  in  our  Eng- 
[87] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

lish  Bible — the  Cleopas  of  St. 
John's  Gospel  and  this  Cleopas  of 
St.  Luke's — they  are  not  the  same 
in  the  original.  And  as  regards 
his  friend,  no  one  can  hope  to 
lift  the  curtain  which  hides  him 
from  our  recognition. 

They  appear,  those  two,  for 
the  first  time  upon  the  highroad 
where  any  one  can  travel,  and 
they  disappear  when  the  incident 
closes;  they  have  no  claim  on 
fame;  they  are  two  unknown 
men,  who  were  not  apostles  nor 
chief  saints,  who  had  never  done 
any  great  thing  except  once 
constrained  the  Lord  to  abide, 
and  who  never  passed  through 
any  great  emotion  except  once, 
when  their  hearts  burned  within 
[88] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

them  listening  to  the  Saviour. 
They  represent  not  the  aristoc- 
racy of  the  Church,  who  have 
preached  the  gospel  to  the  na- 
tion, or  ruled  the  house  of  God, 
or  won  the  martyr's  crown,  or 
opened  the  mystery  of  the  faith 
unto  their  brethren.  They  are 
two  of  the  multitude  which  make 
up  the  body  of  the  Church, 
and  it  is  comforting  to  know 
that  Christ  had  a  thought  of 
them  when  He  rose  from  the 
dead. 

After  all,  there  are  not  many 
distinguished  people,  famous  by 
their  talents  and  services;  the 
enormous  majority  of  us  are 
commonplace  and  obscure.  As 
[89] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

the  race  passes  before  our  eyes 
across  the  stage  of  history,  how 
few  we  recognise! — a  poet,  a 
prophet,  an  explorer,  a  con- 
queror; and  the  rest,  they  were 
born  and  lived,  and  did  their 
duty  and  died.  Among  all  the 
people  in  our  city  or  our  country, 
there  may  not  be  one  whose  name 
will  be  known  a  hundred  years 
hence,  and  the  great  person  of 
our  little  circle  has  not  been 
heard  of  a  mile  away. 

There  are  times  when  we  ordi- 
nary folk  are  discouraged  be- 
cause our  life  is  so  limited  and 
our  sky  so  grey,  but  we  ought  to 
remind  ourselves  that  we  are  not 
forgotten  of  God,  and  we  ought 
not  to  complain  if  we  are  loved 
[90] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

by  even  one  person.  We  may 
be  lost  in  the  crowd  and  seem 
to  be  nothing;  but  in  our  homes 
we  are  everything,  and  it  does 
not  matter  so  very  much  that 
our  name  will  be  unknown  to 
futu{re  generations  if  it  be 
mentioned  with  affection  by  two 
or  three  people  to-day. 

As  you  travel  on  the  railroad, 
you  pity  some  countryman  who 
is  a  fellow-passenger,  because  he 
has  seen  so  little  and  has  so  few 
things  to  think  about,  has  such 
a  difficulty  in  speech,  and  is  so 
unattractive  in  appearance.  *  A 
poverty-stricken  life,'  you  say  to 
yourself;  *  a  dull,  insensible 
soul.'  Wait  a  moment,  and  you 
[91] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

will  correct  your  judgment;  for 
now  the  train  begins  to  slow  and 
the  countryman's  face  begins  to 
brighten.  He  looks  out  at  the 
window,  and  marks  the  familiar 
landscape;  he  is  coming  near 
his  home,  and  is  thinking  of 
them  who  are  waiting  for  him. 
A  woman  and  two  children  are 
standing  on  the  platform;  they 
wave  their  hands  to  him  as  the 
train  comes  in,  and  he,  as  best  he 
can,  responds. 

As  he  leaves  the  train,  which 
is  a  foreign  place  to  him,  you 
hear  his  wife  call  him  by  his 
Christian  name,  and  the  accent 
of  her  voice  glorifies  the  word, 
for  it  testifies  to  his  faithfulness 
and  to  her  love,  and  the  children 
[92] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

take  him  round  the  neck;  and 
it  is  with  another  thought  of 
him  and  of  his  life  that  you 
follow  the  little  group  going 
down  the  road  till  amid  the 
hedge-rows  they  are  lost  to 
sight.  Somewhere  among  the 
greenery  this  labouring  man  has 
a  home;  and  there  in  his  three 
rooms,  with  his  little  garden  and 
simple  possessions,  with  his  wife 
and  children,  he  is  content. 

Love  dignifies  and  satisfies  the 
heart  as  rank  and  riches  and 
learning  and  achievements  can 
never  do,  and  the  chief  love  of 
human  experience  is  the  love 
of  Jesus  Christ.  Does  it  matter 
much  that  our  names  are  un- 
known to  men,  if  they  be  known 
[93] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

to  the  Lord;  that  they  shall 
have  no  place  in  history,  if  they 
be  written  in  the  Lamb's  book 
of  life;  that  no  one  recognises 
our  faces  as  we  trudge  along  our 
way,  if  the  risen  Lord,  who  has 
the  worship  of  the  heavenly 
hosts,  should  join  us  on  the  road 
and  keep  us  company? 

Ordinary  people  are  glorified 
hy  a  spiritual  passion,  Cleopas 
and  his  friend  were  two  country 
folk  who  worked  hard  for  their 
living,  and  were  bowed  down 
with  toil,  and  were  poorly 
dressed,  and  had  most  likely  un- 
lovely manners.  Yesterday  one 
had  passed  them  without  no- 
tice as  if  they  had  been  sheep,  but 
[94] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

to-day  they  demand  attention 
from  any  one  who  has  an  eye 
and  a  heart.  They  are  afflicted 
by  such  sorrow  that  it  shows 
itself  in  their  carriage,  and  has 
given  another  expression  to  their 
faces.  They  have  found  speech 
who  used  to  travel  in  silence, 
and  are  so  absorbed  with  their 
grief,  whatever  it  may  be,  that 
they  have  no  thought  for  other 
travellers. 

No  one  is  commonplace  when 
he  is  touched  by  an  unselfish 
emotion;  for  he  is  raised  above 
himself,  and  commands  your 
respect  and  admiration.  The 
stupidest  man  who  ever  lived, 
sorrowing  for  his  dead  wife; 
the  vagrant  of  the  highways, 
[95] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

bending  over  her  sick  child; 
the  street  arab  of  the  city,  for- 
getting his  rags  to  rejoice  in  his 
country's  victory;  the  criminal 
breaking  down  as  he  bids  his 
mother  good-bye,  may  not  be 
despised.  The  simplest  emotion 
elevates  the  humblest,  but  the 
passion  of  religion  glorifies  it. 

When  a  Highland  shepherd 
spends  the  night  upon  the  moor 
wrestling  in  prayer  to  assure 
himself  of  God,  he  is  greater 
than  kings  upon  the  throne  and 
philosophers  in  their  studies. 
And,  when  these  two  men  went 
down  from  Jerusalem  to  Emmaus 
heart-broken,  not  because  they 
had  lost  gold  or  silver  or  even 
earthly  friends,  but  because  they 
[96] 


Two  Okdinaey  People 

had  lost  their  Lord,  *  who  should 
have  redeemed  Israel,'  then  are 
they  lifted  above  the  circum- 
stances of  their  lives  and  the 
narrowness  of  their  minds.  They 
take  spiritual  rank  before  Ga- 
maliel, who  with  all  his  learning 
was  not  wise  enough  to  recognise 
the  Lord ;  and  before  the  priests, 
who  knew  not  what  to  do  with 
Christ  except  to  crucify  Him; 
and  before  the  mighty  procurator 
of  Judaea,  who  had  not  courage 
enough  to  do  justice. 

Jesus  comforted  His  disciples 
by  ordinary  means.  It  was  like 
the  Lord  to  seek  out  those  who 
missed  Him  and  to  satisfy  those 
who  desired  Him,  but  His 
[97] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

method  of  revelation  seems  at 
first  sight  strange  and  slow. 
Why  did  He  not  say,  ^  Cleopas/ 
with  that  sound  of  love  in  the 
word  that  would  have  opened 
the  eyes  of  His  true  friend?  So 
in  a  moment  their  sorrow  had 
been  turned  into  joy.  Why, 
instead  thereof,  did  He  turn  to 
the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  spend  the  time  in 
exposition  which  might  have 
been  used  in  revelation?  Why 
delay  the  revelation  so  long  and 
require  so  elaborate  a  prepara- 
tion for  its  climax? 

Because  the  Master  was  think- 
ing not  only  of  that  day,  but  of 
the  days  that  were  to  come  in  the 
life  of  Cleopas  and  his  friend, 
[98] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

and  also  of  the  disciples  who 
were  to  follow  in  future  ages.  It 
was  not  enough  to  captivate  the 
senses  of  the  two  companions  by 
a  physical  manifestation;  it  was 
necessary  to  convince  their  rea- 
son by  a  lasting  proof;  not 
enough  to  show  that  having 
suffered  He  had  risen,  but  to 
make  plain  that  it  was  becoming 
He  should  suffer,  and  certain 
that,  if  He  accepted  the  cross. 
He  would  receive  the  crown. 
For  this  end  Jesus  took  His 
disciples  a  long  way  back,  and 
brought  them  by  the  way  of 
Moses  and  the  law,  of  Isaiah  and 
the  gospel,  to  the  Cross  of  Cal- 
vary, showing  them  that  all 
things  which  had  happened  at 
[99] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

Jerusalem  were  in  the  purpose  of 
God,  and  were  the  terminus  of  a 
long  history. 

Jesus  did  not  dazzle  their  eyes ; 
He  carried  their  reason,  and 
therefore,  if  at  any  time  to  come 
wise  people  should  say  unto 
Cleopas  that  he  had  only 
dreamed,  and  imagined  he  saw 
the  Lord,  whom  he  wished  to 
see,  then  the  disciple  would 
rest  himself  on  the  argument 
of  the  Old  Testament,  and  call 
in  Moses  and  the  prophets  to 
establish  his  faith.  And,  if  the 
disciple  of  to-day,  coming  down 
from  his  Jerusalem  in  despair 
of  faith,  complains  that  there  is 
no  Lord  to  meet  him  on  the  way, 
[100] 


Two  Ordinaey  People 

and  comfort  his  heart,  the  Master, 
who  is  not  far  off  nor  unmindful 
of  him,  bids  him  open  a  yet 
richer  Bible  than  Moses  and  the 
prophets,  and  therein  discover 
the  reason  for  Christ's  death  and 
the  assurance  that  Christ  has 
risen.  And,  if  the  Master  ex- 
pounds not  to  our  ears  the  Holy- 
Scriptures,  He  opens  them  to  the 
heart  by  His  Spirit,  and  every 
generation  is  sent  to  the  written 
word  which  is  the  testimony  of 
the  Lord. 

When  ordinary  people  obtain 
a  revelation  it  is  their  wisdom  to 
make  the  most  of  it.  The  owner 
of  a  gallery  may  enjoy  the  pic- 
tures at  his  leisure,  but  the 
[101] 


Twc  Obdinaey  People 

visitor  of  an  hour  must  make 
good  use  of  Ms  time.  The 
volumes  of  a  great  library  show 
little  sign  of  usage,  but  the  poor 
man's  twenty  books  are  thin  with 
handling.  The  man  who  has 
never  worked  knows  not  how  to 
keep  holiday,  but  the  toiler  uses 
every  moment  of  his  time  of  rest. 
When  heaven  is  ever  open  to 
elect  souls  they  need  not  make 
haste,  but  if  one  only  gets  a 
glimpse  now  and  again,  he  must 
seize  his  opportunity  with  all 
his  might.  Never  before  had 
Cleopas  travelled  in  such  com- 
pany; when  would  he  be  fa- 
voured after  this  fashion  again? 
He  glanced  at  his  friend  and  his 
friend  at  him,  and  they  saw  the 
[102] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

same  desire  in  one  another's 
eyes.  They  were  on  the  threshold 
of  an  unspeakable  blessing,  and 
it  will  not  be  their  blame  if  they 
do  not  possess  it.  They  have 
come  to  their  destination,  and 
the  stranger  makes  as  though  He 
would  bid  them  good-bye  and  go 
on  His  way  down  the  darkening 
road.  But  if  that  were  His  in- 
tention. He  had  not  counted  on 
Cleopas  and  his  friend,  nor  had 
He  considered  what  He  Himself 
had  done.  If  He  must  go  on 
His  way,  He  ought  not  to  have 
joined  Himself  to  those  two  men 
and  caused  their  hearts  to  burn, 
and  lifted  their  hopes,  and 
brought  them  to  the  height  of 
expectation.  He  ought  not  to 
[103] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

have  done  so  mucli  unless  He 
was  going  to  do  more;  and,  at 
any  rate,  whatever  be  the  Mas- 
ter's mind,  the  mind  of  the  two 
disciples  is  clear  and  fixed.  It 
must  be  in  spite  of  them  that 
Jesus  will  escape  from  Emmaus 
that  evening.  And  now,  as 
in  Angelico's  beautiful  picture, 
Cleopas  has  arrested  Jesus  by 
his  pilgrim  staff,  and  his  friend 
has  laid  hold  of  the  Master's 
arm.  They  are  no  longer  dis- 
heartened and  listless,  they  are 
now  two  determined  men  who  may 
not  be  trifled  with  nor  put  aside. 
The  shadows  are  falling  fast; 
why  should  this  traveller  pursue 
His  journey?  He  must  rest 
somewhere ;  why  not  in  Cleopas 's 
[104] 


Two  Ordinaey  People 

house!  It  is  a  little  home, 
but  there  is  room  for  this 
stranger;  they  have  not  much 
to  offer,  but  all  they  have  shall 
be  His.  Never  had  our  Lord  a 
sadder  experience  than  when  He 
called  and  no  man  regarded, 
than  when  he  knocked  and  no 
man  opened;  never  had  He  a 
gladder  heart  than  on  that  night 
when  two  obscure  men  stood  in 
the  highroad,  so  that  He  could 
not  pass  them,  and  with  the 
violence  of  love  compelled  Him 
to  be  their  guest.  He  remained 
who  had  desired  nothing  more 
than  this  invitation;  He  was 
helpless  in  their  hands  who 
was  most  willing  to  be  van- 
quished. 

[105] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

When  vision  comes  to  ordinary/ 
people  it  is  the  outcome  of  their 
past  experience.  It  is  open  for 
any  one  to  say  that  the  bread 
which  Jesus  blessed,  and  in  which 
He  revealed  Himself,  was  the 
Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
but  it  is  quite  as  likely  that  it 
was  their  evening  meal.  And  if 
it  were  so,  one  comes  to  under- 
stand how  they  recognised  Jesus 
in  the  breaking  of  the  bread. 
Although  they  were  not  apostles, 
and  were  not  Jesus 's  intimates, 
yet  they  had  been  His  disciples, 
and  must  often  have  been  in  His 
company.  They  had  journeyed 
with  Him  along  the  Galilean 
roads,  and  at  mid-day  had  sat 
down  upon  the  ground  when 
[106] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

Jesus  gave  the  barley  bread  to 
His  disciples.  Their  place  would 
be  on  the  outer  circle,  far  away 
from  John  and  Peter,  but  on  that 
very  account,  because  they  were 
not  so  near  the  Lord,  they  would 
watch  Him  the  more  closely,  as 
poor  people  in  the  back  seats  of 
churches  have  often  a  keener 
interest  in  their  minister  than 
those  with  whom  he  is  ever 
mixing.  They  knew  how  Jesus 
looked  on  such  an  occasion — the 
turn  of  His  hands,  the  attitude 
of  His  body,  the  expression  of 
His  eyes,  with  little  touches 
which  they  had  often  mentioned 
to  one  another  as  they  followed 
the  Lord  at  a  distance,  but 
carried  Him  in  their  hearts. 
[107] 


Two  Ordinaey  People 

Although  they  did  not  suspect  it, 
their  unassuming  and  unaffected 
devotion  had  not  been  unnoticed 
of  the  Lord,  and  it  was  not  to  go 
without  its  due  reward.  They 
had  been  two  out  of  many  once, 
to-night  they  would  be  two  with 
Jesus  alone.  They  had  stood 
afar  in  their  humility,  they 
would  be  brought  very  near 
to-night.  The  day  will  come, 
and  may  come  suddenly,  to  the 
honest,  modest  disciple,  when  his 
patient  obedience  in  the  little 
things  of  life,  and  his  faithful 
affection  from  a  distance,  and 
his  frequent  tender  thoughts  of 
the  Lord,  like  fuel  gathered 
and  treasured  in  his  soul,  will 
suddenly  be  touched,  as  by  the 
[108] 


Two  Ordinary  People 

Spirit  of  the  Lord,  and  blaze  into 
light,  and  in  the  light  thereof  he 
will  see  the  Lord's  face.  Because 
the  two  had  loved  the  Lord  so 
kindly,  and  had  watched  Him 
in  days  gone  by,  He  was  known 
to  them  that  evening  in  the 
breaking  of  bread. 

Vision  is  for  the  moment,  but 
the  light  thereof  transforms  the 
ordinary  life.  No  sooner  had  the 
Lord  been  recognised  than  He 
vanished  from  their  sight,  but 
though  the  appearance  was  only 
for  a  moment  the  power  thereof 
was  for  life.  They  rose  and  re- 
turned to  Jerusalem,  but  not  the 
same  men  nor  by  the  same  road, 
for  now  all  things  had  been  made 
[1091 


Two  Ordinary  People 

new  for  them  both  within  and 
without.  Life  has  another  colour 
and  another  end  because  it  has 
another  hope,  when  we  know  for 
a  certainty  that  the  Lord  has 
risen  from  the  dead.  We  are  as- 
sured of  another  world  of  the 
blessed  departed,  of  the  immortal 
soul,  of  the  victory  of  holiness. 
We  go  on  our  way  to  common- 
place duties  and  varied  trials, 
but  we  are  encompassed  with  a 
cloud  of  witnesses;  we  are  rein- 
forced by  heavenly  grace,  we 
travel  beneath  an  open  heaven, 
we  see  our  Lord  at  the  right  hand 
of  God.  Our  faces  are  now  set 
steadfastly  to  go  up  to  Jerusa- 
lem, not  to  the  sorrow  of  the 
cross,  which  is  over,  but  to  the 
[110] 


Two  Oedinaey  People 

glory  of  the  victory  which  Christ 
has  achieved;  and  as  each  one 
comes  to  his  brethren  with  the 
joy  of  his  own  vision,  his  testi- 
mony is  drowned  in  the  voice  of 
the  whole  company  of  the  disci- 
ples, declaring,  before  he  can 
speak,  that  the  Lord  is  risen 
indeed. 


[Ill] 


tEt^t  Company  of  Msitipltsi 


THE  COMPANY  OF  DISCIPLES 

It  is  a  pleasant  argument  where 
the  Church  of  Christ  was  born, 
and  various  places  contend  for 
this  honour.  There  is  the  Moun- 
tain in  Galilee  where  the  Lord 
laid  down  the  conditions  of  His 
kingdom;  there  is  the  lake 
side  where  He  wrought  His 
works  of  mercy;  there  is  the 
Cross  where  He  achieved  His 
victory;  there  is  Pentecost  when 
He  came  in  power.     But  it  is 

[115] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

open  to  hold  that  the  Church  of 
the  New  Testament  began  her 
history  when,  at  the  close  of 
Easter  Day,  the  apostles  and 
those  with  them  gathered  in  the 
upper  room  and,  the  doors  being 
shut,  the  Lord  appeared  and  be- 
stowed upon  them  His  peace 
and  His  Spirit. 

During  the  day  He  had 
appeared  to  one  and  another, 
enlightening  their  darkness,  and 
filling  them  with  gladness,  and 
so  He  had  been  preparing  for  the 
revelation  of  the  evening.  It  is 
His  habit  first  to  inflame  the 
hearts  of  a  few,  and  then,  when 
the  Church  is  in  a  state  of  ex- 
pectation, to  declare  Himself 
unto  the  body  of  His  people. 
[116] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

When  Peter  and  Cleopas  have 
been  comforted  and  know  that 
*  He  is  risen  indeed,'  when  they 
have  borne  their  testimony  and 
spread  their  hope  among  the 
brethren,  then  of  a  sudden  the 
Lord  appears.  And  the  sign 
which  He  gave  on  that  first 
night,  and  always  gives,  the  con- 
vincing and  final  proof  of  His 
identity,  is  the  sign  of  the  Pas- 
sion. He  shows  unto  His  disci- 
ples His  hands  and  His  feet. 

As  a  river  carries  with  it  to 
the  sea  the  character  of  its  birth- 
place— green,  because  it  sprang 
from  a  glacier  and  has  been  fed 
from  the  slopes  of  snow ;  or  clear, 
because  it  flowed  from  a  lake  and 
has  received  the  waters  of  many 
[117] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

a  mountain  stream,  so  the  Church 
of  Christ  bears  the  mark  of  her 
Lord.  As  Judaism  has  been  a 
standing  monument  to  the  spirit 
of  the  Prophet  of  Sinai,  so  the 
Christian  Church,  when  she  is 
true  to  herself,  is  the  very  incar- 
nation of  her  Lord.  According 
to  sight,  Jesus  may  have  lived 
barely  thirty-three  years  in  this 
world;  but,  according  to  faith, 
after  nineteen  centuries  He  is  the 
chief  force  in  human  life,  through 
His  body,  which  is  the  Church; 
and  any  one  can  recognise  that 
body,  because  of  the  nail-prints 
on  the  hands  and  feet. 

By  the  sign  of  His  hands  and 
His   feet    the   Lord   called   His 
[118] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

Church  to  be  the  witness  to  His 
Passion.  It  is  the  duty  of  His 
disciples  to  make  known  every- 
where the  law  of  the  Lord,  who 
is  the  chief  Prophet  of  God,  and 
the  life  of  the  Lord,  who  is  the 
type  of  holiness,  but  the  Church 
has  failed  and  missed  the  heart 
of  the  mystery  of  Christ  if  she 
does  not  represent  Him  as  the 
Crucified.  What  distinguished 
Him  from  every  other  teacher 
which  the  world  has  received 
from  God  is  that  He  not  only 
declared  God  by  His  word  and 
by  His  life,  but  that  He  also  rec- 
onciles us  to  God  by  His  Cross 
and  by  His  death.  He  is  more 
than  teacher,  He  is  also  Saviour, 
and  the  Christ  on  whom  the 
[119] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

wounds  are  hidden  may  on  the 
first  sight  of  Him  be  more 
attractive  to  flesh  and  blood, 
because  there  is  in  Him  nothing 
to  pain  or  offend  us,  but  He  is 
not  the  Christ  of  the  Gospels 
nor  the  power  of  God.  He  may- 
have  loved  us,  but  not  unto  the 
bitterness  of  Gethsemane;  He 
may  instruct  us,  He  cannot  re- 
inforce us;  He  may  delight 
us.  He  cannot  redeem  us.  The 
Cross  was  not  a  lamentable  in- 
cident in  the  life  of  Jesus,  to  be 
regretted  and  forgotten;  it  was 
the  end  for  which  He  came  into 
the  world,  it  was  the  work 
which  He  had  to  do.  When  He 
had  died  upon  that  Cross  He  had 
not  done  with  it,  and  when  He 
[120] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

rose  from  the  dead  He  did  not 
forget  it.  No  sooner  had  His 
executioner  taken  down  the  two 
beams  of  wood  and  removed  the 
traces  of  the  Crucifixion  from 
the  hill  called  Calvary,  than  Jesus 
set  up  that  Cross  for  ever  on  the 
hill  of  Sion  and  placed  it  in  the 
heart  of  the  Church.  The  print 
of  the  nails  and  the  hollow  of 
the  spear  were  taken  up  into 
the  body  of  His  glory  and  are 
continued  there  for  ever.  From 
the  circle  of  Calvary  the  Church 
cannot  depart  without  leaving 
her  Lord  and  denying  that  she 
had  ever  known  Him.  There  is 
not  one  of  her  doctrines  which 
does  not  bear  in  its  warp  and 
woof  the  red  thread  of  Christ's 
[121] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

sacrifice.  Her  two  beautiful 
Sacraments  are  both  the  picture 
of  His  death;  Baptism,  wherein 
we  are  cleansed  by  His  blood; 
and  the  Lord's  Supper,  wherein 
we  are  fed  by  His  broken  body. 
The  disciples  cannot  meet  for 
worship  without  offering  their 
prayers,  through  the  intercession 
of  their  great  High  Priest,  who 
has  carried  His  sacrifice  within 
the  veil,  and  they  cannot  escape 
the  hymns  of  the  Cross  in  their 
praise  to  God.  When  the  hearts 
of  the  disciples  have  grown  cold 
and  their  minds  shallow,  they 
have  covered  the  signs  of  the 
Passion,  casting  the  Cross  from 
out  of  their  doctrine,  and  erasing 
it  from  their  hymns,  and  then 
[122] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

the  Church  has  ceased  to  be  the 
body  of  Christ  and  has  been 
ready  to  perish.  False  Christs 
also  have  appeared  among  the 
disciples  and  have  claimed  to  be 
the  Master,  speaking  words  of 
human  wisdom  and  prophesying 
smooth  things;  but  they  have 
always  been  detected  and  re- 
fused, for  when  He  cometh  there 
is  no  mistaking  Jesus,  and  where 
He  dwelleth  there  is  no  mistak- 
ing the  Church,  for  the  sign  of 
the  Lord  and  of  His  Church  is 
the  same,  the  wound-prints  on  the 
hands  and  feet. 

By  His  wounds  the  Lord  also 
baptizes  the  Church  into  His  sym- 
pathy.    It    is    something   which 
[123] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

ouglit  ever  to  be  remembered  and 
insisted  upon,  that  the  Christian 
Church  was  not  founded  by 
one  who  was  learned  or  rich, 
or  honoured  or  successful,  for 
then  she  would  have  been  the 
home  for  wise  and  great  people, 
and  would  have  had  no  place  for 
the  poor  and  the  suffering.  Her 
Lord  passed  through  the  lowest 
depths  of  privation  and  humilia- 
tion, till  it  came  to  pass  that  no 
one  could  be  poorer  and  no  one 
worse  used,  and  so  His  Church 
is  the  refuge  for  those  who  are 
broken-hearted  and  have  failed 
through  their  sins  or  through 
their  sorrows.  When  Christianity 
becomes  high  and  mighty,  when 
she  forms  alliances  with  the 
[124] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

world  and  is  increased  in  goods, 
when  she  despises  the  meek  and 
the  humble,  when  she  is  hard 
and  merciless,  then  has  she 
denied  her  Lord  and  herself,  and 
lost  the  print  of  the  nails.  The 
labouring  and  the  heavy  laden, 
the  outcast,  and  the  penitent 
came  to  Jesus  as  to  a  friend, 
and  after  the  same  fashion,  and 
with  the  same  confidence,  they 
ought  to  come  to  His  Church, 
and  they  should  receive  from  her 
the  same  welcome  as  from  the 
Lord.  By  her  tenderness  the 
Church  is  to  be  distinguished 
from  all  other  bodies  on  the 
face  of  the  earth,  because,  having 
been  baptized  into  the  Passion 
of  the  Lord,  she  carries  for  ever 
[125] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

His  heart  of  love.  Her  preach- 
ing must  be  tried  by  this  test, 
not  is  it  eloquent  or  profound, 
but  does  it  comfort,  breaking 
not  the  bruised  reed,  quench- 
ing not  the  smoking  flax,  putting 
strength  in  them  who  were  ready 
to  die,  and  lifting  up  those  who 
were  cast  down.  Her  operations 
must  be  judged,  not  by  their 
worldly  size  and  success,  by 
numbers  and  noise  and  wealth, 
but  by  their  spirit  of  quiet- 
ness and  gentleness.  And  this 
must  ever  be  a  chief  condition 
of  her  fellowship,  that  the  proud 
and  the  self-righteous  have  no 
entrance,  but  that  the  door  be 
ever  open  for  the  widow  of  Nain 
and  Zaccheus  the  publican,  and 
[126] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

the  woman  who  was  a  sinner, 
and  the  penitent  thief.  And  the 
signs  of  their  encouragement 
shall  be  this — the  marks  on  the 
hands  and  feet. 

By  His  wounds  the  Lord  calls 
His  Church  to  austerity  of  life. 
There  is  no  master  so  gentle  or 
so  severe  as  Jesus,  for  He  gives 
the  most  generous  invitation  and 
the  kindliest  welcome  when  we 
come  to  Him;  He  lays  us  on 
the  hardest  service  and  demands 
of  us  the  hardest  sacrifices  after 
we  have  come.  *  Peace  be  unto 
you/  He  said  that  night  to  the 
disciples,  and  He  breathed  upon 
them  that  they  might  receive  His 
spirit;  but  before  James  lay  a 
[127] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

speedy  martyrdom,  and  before 
John  a  lonely  exile,  before  them 
all  bonds  and  sufferings.  For 
Christ  hath  two  words  of  power : 
one  is  *  come,'  which  draws  us 
to  His  side,  where  there  is  peace 
for  evermore;  and  the  other  is 
*  follow,'  which  draws  us  after 
Him,  where  He  carries  His  Cross 
in  the  paths  of  life.  The  wounds 
of  Christ  are  first  of  all  the  hope 
and  hiding-place  of  the  soul; 
afterwards  they  turn  into  the 
soul's  standard  and  obligation. 
As  there  is  a  false  Christianity 
which  banishes  the  Cross  from 
thought,  there  is  another  which 
banishes  the  Cross  from  life,  and 
as  the  one  makes  no  distinction 
between  Jesus  and  other  teachers, 
[128] 


The  Company  op  Disciples 

save  His  deeper  wisdom  and  His 
higher  goodness,  so  the  latter 
does  not  separate  the  Christian 
life  from  the  world  life,  except 
in  a  finer  degree  of  purity  and  of 
charity;  but  the  true  Christian- 
ity, which  has  made  the  sacrifice 
of  Christ  its  distinctive  principle 
of  thought,  makes  the  same 
sacrifice  its  rule  of  life.  It  does 
not  pretend  that  it  is  easy  to 
follow  Christ,  or  that  the  Cross 
is  light  to  carry,  but  rather 
teaches  that  the  Christian  must 
be  prepared  upon  occasion  to 
pluck  out  the  right  eye  and  cut 
off  the  right  hand,  to  hate  father 
and  mother,  to  sell  all  that  he 
has,  to  part  from  all  whom  he 
loves,  to  do  work  which  he  dis- 
[129] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

likes,  to  associate  with  unattract- 
ive people,  to  deny  himself  in 
heart  and  life,  in  his  reason  also 
and  in  his  affections,  even  as 
Christ  Himself  did,  and  for  the 
same  cause :  the  love  of  God  and 
the  love  of  man.  So  the  Church 
comes  to  carry  the  print  of  the 
nails  upon  her  hands  and  her 
feet,  and  the  world  knows  that 
she  is  the  Body  of  Christ. 

And  hy  His  wounds  Christ 
assures  the  Church  of  victory. 
Art  has  been  the  devout  hand- 
maid of  faith,  but  art  once  did 
faith  an  injury  when  she  accus- 
tomed the  Christian  mind  to  the 
sight  of  Christ  upon  the  crucifix 
— emaciated,  worn  out,  bleeding, 
[130] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

dying.  He  did  suffer  and  He 
did  die,  but  His  physical  passion 
ceased  with  His  death,  and  when 
He  rose  from  the  dead  His 
wounds  remained,  but  they  were 
healed  never  again  to  open;  they 
continued  in  sign  upon  His  body, 
but  they  were  the  signs  of  His 
power.  The  truest  Christ  is  that 
of  an  ancient  gem,  wherein  the 
Lord  alive  for  evermore  rests  on 
His  Cross  as  one  upon  a  throne, 
crucified,  yet  risen,  once  suffering, 
now  glorified;  or  in  that  fine 
conception  of  Burne- Jones's, 
wherein  a  young  and  beautiful 
Christ  is  set  with  outstretched 
arms  upon  the  Tree  of  Life  in  the 
Garden  of  Eden,  while  the  human 
race  is  represented  by  Adam  and 
[131] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

Eve,  who  stand  on  either  side. 
This  is  the  Christ  of  the  Eesur- 
rection  Day  and  of  the  Christian 
faith.  His  Passion  now  is  not 
the  evidence  of  defeat,  but  is  the 
pledge  of  victory,  for  behold  if 
He  died,  a  sacrifice  for  our  sins, 
by  His  rising  again  He  has  been 
accepted  of  God.  If  he  humbled 
Himself  unto  the  death  of  the 
Cross,  He  has  obtained  a  name 
which  is  above  every  name.  For 
His  Church  He  died,  and  with 
Him  the  Church  is  living;  for 
His  Church  He  rose,  and 
with  Him  the  Church  also  rises; 
for  the  Church  He  reigns,  and 
with  Him  the  Church  also  reigns. 
There  is  no  power  in  heaven  or 
earth  like  unto  the  Cross,  for  it 
[132] 


The  Company  of  Disciples 

has  beaten  down  sin  and  estab- 
lished righteousness ;  it  has  given 
Christ  His  crown  in  heaven  and 
on  earth  the  hearts  of  men,  and 
unto  every  one  who  bears  in  him 
the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
the  Cross  is  the  pledge  of  ever- 
lasting life.  When  Christ  showed 
unto  His  disciples  on  the  evening 
of  Easter  Day  the  marks  on  His 
hands  and  feet,  He  declared 
Himself  the  Son  of  God  and 
the  Lord  of  Glory,  and  they  who 
are  willing  to  have  the  same 
marks  printed  upon  them  become 
partakers  of  His  victorious 
immortality. 


[133] 


Wbt  ioxVsi  JBrottier 


VI 

THE  LORD'S  BROTHER 

Among  the  trials  of  Jesus  there 
is  one  which  we  often  forget  and 
whose  keenness  we  have  never 
appreciated,  and  that  is  the 
tragedy  of  His  home  life.  It  is 
natural  that  we  should  set  a 
special  value  upon  the  judgment 
of  those  with  whom  we  live  and 
who  are  bound  to  us  by  the  most 
intimate  ties.  If  they  believe  in 
us  it  matters  little  that  the  outer 
world  disbelieves;  what  does 
it  know?  If  they  condemn  us, 
[137] 


The  Lord's  Brother 

can  the  outer  world  justify  usf 
do  not  they  know  best?  Would 
not  Christ's  joy  in  the  faith  of 
Peter  the  fisherman  and  Nico- 
demus  the  Pharisee,  and  Mary  of 
Bethany,  the  Saint,  and  that 
Eoman  Centurion  of  Capernaum, 
be  shadowed  by  the  remembrance 
that  His  brother  James  was  an 
unbeliever?  Would  not  the  hos- 
tility of  the  Pharisees,  and  the 
persecution  of  the  priests,  and 
the  injustice  of  the  Eomans,  and 
the  rejection  of  the  people  have 
been  more  easily  borne  if  their 
enmity  had  not  been  sanctioned 
by  the  unbelief  of  His  brother? 
What  a  stumbling-block  it  must 
have  been  to  Jesus'  friends,  and 
what  a  handle  to  His  enemies, 

[  138  ] 


The  Lord's  Brother 

that  a  man  who  had  known  Him 
from  childhood,  and  had  seen  His 
private  life,  refused  to  accept  His 
claim  or  to  become  His  follower. 
Possibly  the  crudest  moment  in 
Jesus'  life,  except  the  agony  in 
Gethsemane,  was  that  scene  in 
Galilee  when  the  Master  was  at 
the  height  of  His  popularity,  and 
James  came  down  from  Nazareth 
bringing  with  him,  alas !  the  Vir- 
gin herself,  and  they  proposed 
to  take  Jesus  away  and  seclude 
Him  for  His  own  sake  and  theirs 
at  home,  as  one  who  had  lost  con- 
trol of  Himself,  and  was  bring- 
ing a  scandal  upon  the  family.  It 
was  then  that  Jesus,  profoundly 
wounded,  declared  that  the  ties 
were  closer  between  Him  and 
[139] 


The  Loed's  Brothee 

His  disciples  than  with  His  own 
house.  '  Who  is  My  mother!  ' 
He  cried  in  hearing  of  the  people, 
'  or  My  brethren!  Behold,'  He 
said,  looking  round  on  the  little 
company  of  His  friends,  *  Behold 
My  mother  and  My  brethren,  for 
whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of 
God,  the  same  is  My  brother  and 
My  sister,  and  My  mother.' 

No  unkindness  or  disloyalty 
could  chill  the  heart  of  Jesus  or 
break  those  bonds  with  James 
which  might  not  be  of  blood  (for 
James  was  almost  certainly  the 
son  of  Joseph  by  a  former  wife,) 
but  were  those  at  least  of  home. 
Jesus  did  not  despair  of  His 
brother's  conversion  and  could 
not  endure  that  James  should  be 

[  140  ] 


The  Lord's  Brothee 

finally  impenitent.  What  had 
not  been  done  before  His  death 
would  be  accomplished  by  His 
resurrection,  and  if  James  had 
once  put  Him  to  shame  by  that 
visit  in  Galilee,  He  also  would 
visit  James  and  fill  him  with  joy 
for  ever.  And  so  the  Lord  *  was 
seen  of  James.' 

Nearness  to  goodness  may  not 
always  convert.  We  are  accus- 
tomed to  pity  those  who  through 
the  moral  poverty  of  their  homes 
have  to  go  abroad  and  depend 
upon  a  distant  view  of  goodness ; 
we  envy  those  who  live  at  home 
with  goodness  and  see  it  incarnate 
in  a  husband  or  a  wife,  a  child  or 
a  brother.  Such  fortunate  people 
[141] 


The  Lord's  Brothee 

hardly  need  a  Gospel,  for  it  has 
been  acted  before  their  eyes,  and 
they  have  been  drawn,  before 
they  knew,  into  the  Kingdom  of 
God.  No  preacher  we  say  is  like 
a  godly  father,  and  none  has  done 
so  great  a  work  as  a  Christian 
mother.  But  if  it  should  come 
to  pass  that  the  goodness  which 
has  so  affected  the  outer  world 
leaves  those  within  its  circle  un- 
touched and  unredeemed,  then 
are  we  apt  to  suspect  its  reality, 
or  at  least  to  conclude  that  it  has 
had  some  serious  flaw.  Is  there 
not  a  flaw  in  our  own  reasoning, 
and  is  not  our  axiom  a  fallacy? 
Do  we  appreciate  a  picture  best 
with  our  face  to  the  canvas? 
have  we  not  to  stand  at  a 
[142] 


The  Lord's  Brothee 

distance  and  at  a  certain  angle 
before  we  catch  its  beauty?  Do 
the  people  who  live  at  the  base 
of  a  famous  mountain  realise  its 
grandeur!  are  they  not  rather 
overshadowed  by  its  greatness? 
Is  it  not  a  disability  of  our  hu- 
man nature  to  grow  accustomed  to 
moral  excellence,  when  we  see  it 
from  morning  till  night  amid  all 
the  petty  details  and  repeated 
commonplaces  of  daily  life?  Has 
it  not  required  death  to  reveal 
to  many  a  man,  and  he  not  a  bad 
man,  the  Christ-like  goodness 
with  which  he  lived  for  a  genera- 
tion, so  that  when  it  was  removed 
from  him  he  did  homage  with 
tears  of  vain  regret  to  that  which 
he  might  have  seen  by  his  side? 
[143] 


The  Lord's  Beother 

James  had  lived  in  the  same 
house  at  first,  and  afterwards 
near  by  in  the  same  little  village, 
with  the  young  child  whom 
Simeon  blessed,  and  the  shep- 
herds worshipped,  with  the  lad 
who  asked  questions  of  the  doc- 
tors, and  who  was  obedient  to  His 
parents,  with  the  young  man 
whom  John  Baptist  recognised  as 
the  Lamb  of  God,  and  St.  John 
the  Divine  accepted  as  his  Lord; 
and  instead  of  being  convinced 
and  won,  so  that  Jesus  could  find 
His  first  disciple  within  His  own 
family,  all  the  world  knew  that, 
whoever  believed  in  our  Lord, 
James  His  brother  did  not. 
Ought  not  this  unbelief  of  James 
to  be  some  comfort  to  good  peo- 
[144] 


The  Lord's  Brotheb 

ple  who  are  distressed  because 
their  children  are  not  religious, 
and  who  are  inclined  in  their  mod- 
esty to  blame  themselves,  for  who 
is  so  faultless  as  the  Lord,  who 
so  determined  in  his  unbelief  as 
James?  Ought  not  this  painful 
incident  of  Jesus'  private  life 
teach  us  charity  and  hinder  us 
from  censuring  without  better 
reason  public  servants  of  God, 
because  they  have  converted 
strangers  to  Christ,  but  have  not 
yet  brought  their  own  family  to 
His  feet?  It  does  not  follow 
they  have  been  careless  of  their 
own,  or  that  they  are  actors  be- 
fore the  public,  for  neither  did 
James  His  brother  believe  in  the 
Lord. 

[145] 


The  Lord's  Brother 

Prejudice  may  blind  the  soul 
worse  than  evil  living.  We  may 
be  provoked  to  do  injustice  to 
James,  and  it  is  therefore  good  to 
remind  ourselves  that  James  was 
not  an  immoral  man  who  had  an 
ill  will  to  Jesus  and  hardened 
himself  because  the  goodness  of 
his  brother  was  his  own  rebuke 
and  condemnation.  As  one  learns 
from  his  after  life,  wherein  he 
earned  the  title  of  *  The  Just,' 
the  Lord's  brother  was  a  man 
of  austere  character  and  belonged 
to  the  strictest  sect  of  the  Jews. 
His  temperament  did  not  make 
him  the  easier  but  the  harder 
subject  for  the  grace  of  Jesus, 
since  the  deepest  cleavage  in  a 
family  is  not  made  by  faults  but 
[146] 


The  Lord's  Beother 

by  creed,  so  that  two  sisters  in 
the  same  family  will  be  further 
apart  if  they  belong  to  different 
parties  in  one  Church  than  if  one 
were  a  saint  and  the  other  were 
a  child  of  pleasure,  and  a  pious 
woman  will  sometimes  be  more 
agreeable  to  her  husband  if  he 
be  a  thorough-going  man  of  the 
world  than  if  he  be  religious  and 
belong  to  another  Church.  No 
one  would  have  done  more  gen- 
erous homage  to  Jesus'  good- 
ness than  James  if  He  had 
belonged  to  his  own  sect,  and 
especially  if  Jesus  had  not  taken 
up  His  public  position.  James 
was  waiting  for  the  Messiah  of 
God  and  had  settled  in  his  own 
mind  what  like  the  Messiah  would 
[147] 


The  Lord's  Brother 

be,  and  when  a  Messiah  of  this 
appearance  declared  Himself  He 
would  find  in  James  a  loyal  serv- 
ant. What  filled  the  soul  of 
this  clean-living  and  righteous 
man  with  horror  was  the  amaz- 
ing claim  of  his  younger  brother. 
That  Jesus  whom  he  had  taken 
care  of  as  a  child,  whom  he  had 
taught  to  saw  and  plane,  whom 
he  had  eaten  and  drunk  with  in 
their  little  home,  and  who  had 
lived  for  thirty  years  a  quiet, 
God-fearing  life,  should  announce 
Himself  in  His  own  village  syna- 
gogue as  the  Messiah  of  the 
Prophets,  and  allow  people  to 
treat  Him  as  the  Promised  One 
throughout  Galilee,  was  to  James 
a  blasphemy  and  a  scandal.  It 
[148] 


The  Lord's  Brother 

was  not  possible  for  Mm  to  rea- 
son about  this  madness.  If  he 
had  had  his  way  it  would  have 
been  brought  to  an  end  by  force 
for  the  sake  of  the  family,  and 
for  Jesus'  sake,  and  it  was  this 
thick  veil  of  Jewish  dogma  which 
hid  the  glory  of  our  Lord  from 
His  brother  James. 

Our  duty  to  the  public  does  not 
absolve  us  from  our  duty  to  our 
own  home.  Jesus  did  not  die 
upon  the  Cross  nor  rise  from  the 
dead  as  a  private  person,  but  as 
the  head  of  the  human  race  and 
the  Saviour  of  the  world.  Before 
Him  lay,  after  His  resurrection, 
the  chief  work  of  the  ages,  to 
reap  the  fruits  of  His  victory, 
[149] 


The  Loed's  Brother 

and  to  redeem  the  Church  which 
God  had  given  to  Him,  and  for 
which  He  had  shed  His  blood. 
Private  ties  of  blood  and  of  home 
which  He  had  faithfully  observed 
in  His  past  life  were  loosed  as 
He  entered  on  His  heavenly  and 
eternal  service,  so  that  the  dear- 
est friends  of  the  past  must  now 
think  of  Him,  not  as  the  man 
whom  they  had  known  in  the 
intimacy  of  human  fellowship, 
but  as  the  Son  of  God  and  their 
Eedeemer.  Yet  He  could  not 
close  that  past  nor  begin  the 
service  of  intercession  within  the 
heavenly  places  till  that  man 
(and  with  him,  we  gather,  His 
other  brethren)  who  was  the  son 
of  Joseph,  and  had  lived  a  godly 
[150] 


The  Lord's  Brother 

life  according  to  his  light  in  Naz- 
areth, had  seen  His  salvation.  It 
were  not  becoming  that  Joseph's 
son  and  His  kinsman  should  be 
among  the  unbelieving  and  un- 
saved, and  Jesus,  who  had  taken 
the  burden  f  romPeter  's conscience 
and  enlightened  the  darkness  of 
Cleopas,  met  alone  with  James 
and  at  last  won  the  heart  and  mind 
of  that  honest,  obstinate  man. 
The  anxious  solicitude  of  Jesus 
for  His  brother's  salvation  and 
the  private  efforts  which  He  made 
are  a  rebuke  unto  those  who  are 
ever  preaching  charity  abroad, 
but  whose  evil  temper  is  a  scourge 
at  home;  who  are  telling  poor 
people  how  to  make  their  houses 
clean  and  fair,  but  who  care  not 
[151] 


The  Loed's  BROTHEa 

for  the  comfort  of  their  own 
homes ;  and,  above  all,  those  who, 
whether  pastors  or  teachers  or 
witnesses  in  any  shape  to  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus,  are  inviting 
strangers  to  the  Great  Feast  of 
God,  but  have  not  yet  pleaded 
with  their  own  family  that  they 
should  come,  as  Jesus  did  with 
His  brother  James. 

An  honest  bigot  makes  a  good 
servant.  James  refused  to  believe 
in  his  brother  Jesus  as  the 
Messiah,  because  there  seemed 
no  sufficient  evidence  for  so 
august  and  awful  a  claim,  and 
the  death  of  Jesus  upon  the 
Cross,  while  it  no  doubt  grieved 
James,  would  only  confirm  his 
[152] 


The  Loed's  Beother 

unbelief.  Nothing,  as  the  Lord 
knew,  would  change  this  stub- 
born and  simple-minded  man 
except  an  irresistible  proof,  but 
if  that  were  given  it  would  be 
at  once  accepted,  and  Jesus  dealt 
with  His  brother  as  afterwards 
He  was  to  deal  with  Saul  at 
Tarsus.  He  let  the  light  of  the 
resurrection  fall  upon  His  life 
and  death.  James  had  con- 
sidered Jesus,  not  to  be  an 
impostor  possibly,  as  the  Jews 
did,  but  rather  a  self-deluded 
man,  carried  away  by  enthusiasm 
— the  victim  of  an  ill-balanced 
mind,  and  he  had  been  obliged 
to  accept  the  lamentable  tragedy 
of  Calvary  as  the  natural  issue 
of  Jesus'  action.  It  would  be 
[153] 


The  Lord's  Brother 

according  to  James  the  judgment 
of  God  as  well  as  tlie  judgment 
of  man,  and  he  could  only  leave 
Jesus  to  the  pity  of  the  Almighty. 
If  God  raised  Jesus  from  the 
dead  after  an  open  and  marvel- 
lous fashion,  then  he  would  have 
to  reverse  his  conclusion,  for  the 
man  whom  God  treated  after  this 
fashion  must  be  the  Messiah, 
sealed  with  the  approval  and 
acquitted  in  the  judgment  of 
the  Eternal.  When  the  Lord 
appeared  to  James,  showing  to 
him  also  His  hands  and  His  feet, 
and  expounding  to  him  all  that  the 
Scriptures  had  said  about  the 
Messiah,  James  would  pass  at 
once  without  hesitation  and  with- 
out reserve  from  unbelief  to  faith. 
[154] 


r 


The  Lord's  Brother 

With  him  there  never  could  be 
any  indifference  or  lukewarm- 
ness,  and  as  once  he  denied  his 
brother  in  spite  of  family  affec- 
tion and  pride,  now  he  would  own 
and  serve  Him  in  spite  of  his 
fellow-countrymen  and  the  whole 
world.  It  is  the  man  of  convic- 
tion who  deserves  our  respect 
and  is  worth  the  winning:  the 
elder  brother  converted  will  be 
more  than  twenty  prodigals  re- 
turned. James,  who  had  openly 
disbelieved  in  his  brother,  came 
at  last  to  write  himself  with 
proud  humility,  *  a  servant  of 
God  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,'  and  to  appeal  to  his  fel- 
low (j.  ristians  by  the  *  faith  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Lord 
[155] 


The  Lord's  Brotheb, 

of  Glory.'  And  tie  who  once 
would  have  laid  hands  upon  his 
brother  to  restrain  Him  from  the 
work  of  God,  became  the  valiant 
chief  shepherd  of  the  Church  in 
Jerusalem,  and  according  to 
ancient  history  died  a  martyr 
for  the  Lord's  sake,  praying  as 
he  died,  '  0  Lord  God  my  Fa- 
ther, I  beseech  Thee  forgive 
them,  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do  I '  And  the  inscription 
which  the  Christians  placed 
upon  his  monument  was  this — 
*  He  hath  been  a  true  witness 
both  to  Jews  and  Greeks  that 
Jesus  is  the  Christ.' 


[156] 


QTIiomasf  tl^t  J^onUtt 


vn 

THOMAS  THE  DOUBTER 

The  first  disciples  of  Jesus  were 
for  the  most  part  simple-minded 
and  ingenuous  men,  but  there 
was  one  of  complex  nature.  The 
character  of  Thomas  could  not 
be  read  like  the  page  of  an  open 
book,  and  he  was  always  liable 
to  be  misunderstood;  he  seemed, 
indeed,  a  contradiction  in  quali- 
ties, and  he  was  often  as  two 
men  unto  himself.  With  every 
one  of  us  the  reason  and  the 
[159] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

heart  have  occasional  coniaicts; 
in  this  man's  nature  they  sus- 
tained an  undying  feud.  In  the 
province  of  his  emotions  he  was 
devoted  to  a  single  person,  whom 
he  loved  with  all  his  strength, 
and  in  all  circumstances,  and 
unto  all  time;  in  that  person  he 
could  see  nothing  but  good; 
from  Him  he  would  not  be 
separated,  for  Him  he  would 
do  anything.  Upon  one  side  of 
his  nature  he  was  the  blind, 
unquestioning,  rejoicing  slave 
of  love.  Within  the  province  of 
the  intellect  Thomas  was  calm, 
cold,  critical,  suspicious  of  the 
faith  which  is  swayed  by  love, 
refusing  to  believe  that  anything 
is  true  because  he  wishes  it  so, 
[160] 


Thomas  the  Dotjbtee 

demanding  the  strongest  evi- 
dence for  religion,  and  searching 
it  with  severity.  Upon  the  in- 
tellectual side  he  is  the  type 
of  honest,  thorough,  relentless 
criticism. 

Thomas  may  be  charged  with  a 
certain  foolishness  of  love,  who 
desired  to  die  with  Christ,  though 
his  death  could  be  of  no  service ; 
he  might  be  charged  with  a  cer- 
tain extremity  of  scepticism,  who 
demanded  unreasonable  evidence ; 
but  there  is  one  charge  which 
never  can  be  brought  against  this 
disciple — ^he  was  never  shallow 
nor  insincere,  either  in  his  love 
or  in  his  doubt.  If  he  loved  his 
Master  with  the  loyalty  of  a 
[161] 


Thomas  the  Doubtee 

dumb,  unreasoning  animal,  he 
loved  Him  all  the  more  when  his 
Master  was  dead ;  and  if  he  hesi- 
tated to  receive  Christ's  teach- 
ing on  the  unseen  world  when  his 
Master  was  with  him,  he  was 
ten  times  more  cautious  when 
his  Master's  lips  were  sealed  in 
death. 

During  the  resurrection  days 
Thomas  outdid  himself  in  scep- 
ticism, and  he  made  three  mis- 
takes which  show  the  defects  of 
his  particular  character.  For 
one  thing,  he  left  the  company  of 
the  apostles  and  secluded  him- 
self in  some  solitary  place,  and 
in  so  doing  he  followed  the  ex- 
ample of  Simon  Peter,  without 
Peter's  excuse.  Simon  went 
[162] 


Thomas  the  Doubteb, 

apart  because  he  had  sinned 
publicly  against  his  Lord,  and 
was  ashamed  to  look  his  brethren 
in  the  face;  Thomas  went  apart 
because  he  had  lost  his  Lord, 
and  would  only,  as  he  considered, 
be  saddened  by  the  sight  pf 
his  friends.  With  the  penitent 
apostle  one  has  deep  sympathy, 
and  one  cannot  blame  him.  If 
a  Christian  has  denied  the  Lord 
before  men,  and  cast  a  stumbling- 
block  in  the  path  of  his  brethren, 
it  would  be  effrontery  for  him  to 
show  himself  as  if  nothing  had 
happened,  and  by  his  presence 
to  force  that  sin  upon  their 
notice.  It  is  becoming  that  one 
who  has  so  fallen  should  walk 
very  softly  and  hide  himself  for  a 
[163] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

little  in  a  secret  place,  where  he 
may  lay  his  contrite  heart  at  the 
feet  of  his  Saviour.  When  he 
has  made  his  peace  with  the  Lord, 
then  let  him  rejoin  his  brethren 
and  make  his  peace  with  them, 
and  he  is  fortunate  who,  during 
his  season  of  penitence,  has  some 
John  to  keep  him  company. 

But  when  a  man's  love  is 
stronger  than  ever,  so  that  he 
would  rather  have  died  than 
denied  his  Lord,  and  when  it  is 
his  faith  which  has  failed,  so  that 
he  can  no  longer  believe  in  the 
Lord,  whom  yet  he  loves,  then 
his  wisdom  is  to  shun  solitude 
and  keep  himself  ever  in  the 
fellowship  of  his  brethren.  This 
man  is  not  a  deserter  who  can 
[164] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

only  come  back  to  his  place  with 
the  amnesty  of  his  captain;  he 
is  a  gallant  soldier  who  has  been 
grievously  wounded  and  requires 
the  care  of  his  fellows.  Let  him 
rejoin  the  colours,  though  it  be 
on  his  hands  and  feet  through 
loss  of  blood,  and  the  whole 
regiment  will  bid  him  welcome 
and  take  him  into  its  charge; 
for  the  regiment  is  proud  of  the 
man  who  falls  fighting,  and  the 
deeper  the  wound  the  more  it 
honours  him. 

The  poorest  company  for  a 
sceptic  like  Thomas  was  himself, 
and  the  worst  of  all  remedies  was 
loneliness.  Alone  he  could  only 
brood  over  his  doubts  and  nurse 
his  fears  till  it  would  seem  to 
[165] 


Thomas  the  Doubtee 

him  that  immortality  was  a 
dream  and  death  ended  all.  Best 
for  him  to  place  himself  with 
those  who  loved  the  same  Lord, 
and,  even  with  the  feeblest  faith, 
are  still  waiting  for  Him. 

As  one  climbs  the  hillside  and 
leaves  the  valley  beneath,  he 
escapes  from  the  miasma  with  its 
dangerous  germs,  and  in  propor- 
tion as  the  sceptic  associates  with 
believers  his  soul  will  drink  in 
faith  as  through  its  pores.  While 
isolation  may  be  a  condition  of 
recovery  for  some  diseases,  it  is 
the  aggravation  of  scepticism, 
and  many  honest  and  mournful 
victims  of  this  spiritual  disease 
would  have  been  cured  long  ago, 
if  they  had  not  kept  themselves 
[166] 


Thomas  the  Doubtee 

apart  from  the  body  of  Christian 
people.  If  they  were  only  willing 
to  worship  with  those  who  on  the 
Lord's  Day  celebrate  His  resur- 
rection, they  would  find  in  this 
buoyant  faith  one  of  the  evi- 
dences which  they  seek,  and 
might  even  find  that  Lord  whom 
they  desire. 

What  Thomas  missed  by  his 
gloomy  spirit  and  foolish  absence  I 
Had  he  been  in  the  upper  room 
with  his  brethren,  he  would  have 
heard  the  testimony  of  the  faith- 
ful women  to  the  Lord's  resur- 
rection, and  the  witness  of  Peter 
and  John  to  the  empty  grave; 
he  would  have  seen  the  glad 
return  of  Peter,  pardoned  and 
restored,  and  the  faces  of  Cleopas 
[167] 


Thomas  the  Doubtee 

and  his  friend  when  they  came 
back  from  Emmaus.  He  would 
have  been  one  of  that  fortunate 
company  to  whom  the  Lord  re- 
vealed Himself  on  the  evening  of 
Easter  Day,  and  to  whom  He 
gave  their  great  commission.  All 
those  beautiful  experiences  of  the 
religious  life  Thomas  lost  be- 
cause he  separated  himself  from 
the  gathering  of  Christ's  friends. 

Thomas  also  made  the  mistake, 
and  for  this  he  deserves  to  be 
very  much  blamed,  of  refusing  the 
testimony  of  Christ's  disciples. 
It  was  nothing  to  him  that  Mary 
Magdalene  had  seen  the  Lord, 
yet  surely  she  knew  Him  well; 
or  that  Peter  had  had  an  inter- 
[168] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

view  with  his  Master,  with  its 
sacred  circumstances;  or  that 
Cleopas  had  beheld  the  Lord  in 
the  breaking  of  bread;  or  that  a 
whole  company  of  disciples  had 
heard  Him  say,  *  Peace  be  unto 
you. '  No  doubt  they  were  simple 
folk,  but  yet  they  were  honest 
and  affectionate.  Perhaps  they 
were  not  so  clever  as  Thomas, 
but  they  could  tell  Thomas  what 
he  did  not  know. 

There  is  apt  to  be  a  flavour  of 
intellectual  superiority  in  the 
Thomas  type  of  mind,  and  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  self-complacency 
mingles  with  its  sincere  regret. 
'  My  dear  old  mother, '  says  some 
modern  Thomas,  *  had  no  doubts, 
and  I  wish  she  could  have  given 
[169] 


Thomas  the  Doubtee 

to  me  her  simple  and  unquestion- 
ing faith;  but  there  has  been  a 
great  change  since  her  day;  she 
knew  her  Bible  and  her  *'  Pil- 
grim's Progress, '^  but  she  had 
never  heard  of  biblical  criticism, 
nor  had  she  read  any  science.' 
And  the  son  allows  it  to  be 
understood,  and  indeed  is  con- 
vinced himself,  that  the  reason 
of  his  scepticism  is  the  strenu- 
ousness  of  his  intellect  and  the 
breadth  of  his  reading.  He  is  suf- 
fering, he  feels,  from  the  defects 
of  his  qualities;  he  is  hindered 
from  the  obedience  of  faith  by 
the  mastery  of  his  mind.  Is  he 
sure  that  he  knows  so  much, 
and  his  mother  knew  so  little 
about  religion,  for  it  is  not 
[170] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

literature  and  science,  but  reli- 
gion which  is  the  matter  in  hand? 
He  tells  us  that  his  mother  was 
the  finest  saint  he  ever  saw, 
and  he  does  not  boast  about  his 
own  sainthood.  Where  did  she 
get  her  patience,  her  humility, 
her  kindness,  her  trust?  Was  it 
not  in  fellowship  with  the  risen 
Lord,  and  was  not  her  life  hid 
with  Christ  in  God?  This  was 
her  testimony,  and  it  was  proved 
by  her  life,  by  evidence  as  real 
and  tangible  as  the  facts  of 
science.  Why  should  her  testi- 
mony not  be  received  in  the 
matter  that  she  knew?  Is  it  not 
more  than  likely  that  she  was 
right,  and  Christ  is  risen  from 
the  dead?    Is  it  not  a  limitation 

[171] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

of   intellect   to   refuse  her   evi- 
dence? 

And  Thomas  made  a  third 
mistake  when  he  demanded  un- 
reasonable evidence  of  the  resur- 
rection. No  sooner  had  the  Lord 
revealed  Himself  in  the  upper 
room  than  the  disciples,  with  the 
kindliness  of  those  early  days, 
remembered  Thomas,  and  we  can 
imagine  the  regret  of  John  that 
one  disciple  was  missing  when 
Jesus  came,  and  that  disciple  the 
man  who  loved  the  Lord  with  all 
his  heart.  John's  heart  would 
go  out  in  pity  from  that  room, 
full  of  light  and  peace,  to  the 
dark  and  hopeless  chamber  where 
Thomas  kept  company  with  his 
unbelief.  Their  joy  would  not  be 
[172] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

complete  until  Thomas  shared  it, 
and  in  the  true  spirit  of  their 
Lord  they  sought  out  their 
doubting  brother  and  carried  him 
the  good  tidings — only  to  be 
disappointed. 

It  seems  as  if  Thomas  was 
afraid  that  his  reason  might  be 
conquered  by  his  hope,  and  so  he 
went  to  an  extremity  of  precau- 
tion. It  was  not  enough  for  him 
that  the  women  had  seen  Christ, 
and  Peter  had  spoken  with  Christ, 
and  Christ  had  walked  with  two 
disciples,  and  that  he  had  given 
peace  to  the  whole  company. 
Thomas  must  see  Him  with  his 
own  eyes;  and  even  eyesight 
would  not  be  enough  to  convince 
his  mind;  he  must  not  only  see 
[173] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

Christ's  hands,  but  he  must  put 
his  finger  into  the  print  of  the 
nails;  he  must  not  only  see 
Christ's  side,  but  must  thrust  his 
hand  into  the  wound.  He  not 
only  demanded  the  evidence  of 
the  senses,  but  insisted  upon  the 
proof  of  touch,  which  is  the  most 
material  of  the  senses.  If  he 
could  not  only  see  and  touch,  but 
also  handle  Christ,  then  he  would 
believe  that  Christ  had  risen,  and 
so  he  laid  down  to  the  horrified 
disciples  his  ultimatum,  beyond 
which  he  could  not  go,  from 
which  he  would  not  recede. 

Had  this  been  any  other  than 
Thomas,  his  brethren  might  well 
have  been  angry,  for  this  was 
the  very  madness  of  intellectual 

[174] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

obstinacy;  but  the  form  of  his 
condition  had  its  own  pathos 
and  showed  that  his  scepticism 
was  shot  through  with  love.  One 
gathers  from  the  minuteness 
and  the  repetition  of  his  wrong- 
headed  demand  that  a  fond,  sad 
memory  had  been  dwelling  all 
those  weary  hours  upon  the 
passion  of  the  Master,  and  that 
his  love  had  made  its  home  in 
the  wounds  of  the  Lord.  He 
still  saw  the  print  of  the  nails 
and  the  spear  thrust  in  His 
side,  and  nothing  could  turn 
away  his  affection  from  this  last 
picture  of  his  Lord.  Through 
that  ghastly  wound  Thomas  had 
gone  out  into  darkness,  wounded 
unto  death,  and  through  the 
[175] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

same  door  only  would  lie  come 
back  to  life  with  his  living  Lord. 
*  Except  I  thrust  my  hand  into 
His  side.'  It  is  a  fearful  re- 
quest, but  for  the  love  which 
made  so  much  of  the  Lord's  suf- 
fering let  Thomas  be  forgiven 
the  scepticism  which  asks  such 
unspiritual  evidence. 

,  Christ  outdid  Himself  in  His 
kindness  to  Thomas.  When 
Thomas  laid  down  the  final  con- 
dition on  which  he  would  believe, 
he  was  speaking,  although  he 
knew  it  not,  into  wiser  and 
kindlier  ears  than  those  of  his 
fellow-disciples ;  and,  although 
Thomas  had  refused  to  join  him- 
self to  the  company  in  the  upper 
[  176  ] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

room,  he  could  not  prevent  the 
Lord  of  that  company  coming  to 
his  room.  If  John  bethought 
himself  of  Thomas,  much  more 
did  the  Lord ;  and  if  the  disciples 
had  it  in  their  hearts  to  visit 
the  solitary,  they  did  not  antici- 
pate the  Master.  The  Lord,  who 
found  out  Peter  in  his  place  of 
retreat,  was  not  unmindful  of 
His  other  friend,  and  the  mean- 
ings of  Thomas  through  the 
night  watches  were  not  unheard 
of  Jesus.  We  may  hide  ourselves 
from  the  disciples  whom  we  are 
tempted  to  despise  for  their  fond 
simplicity,  we  cannot  hide  our- 
selves from  the  Master;  and 
when  our  unbelieving  heart,  sick 
of  its  unbelief,  relieves  itself  in 
[177] 


Thomas  the  Doubtee 

foolish  words,  they  pass  into  the 
heart  of  Christ. 

The  disciples  left  the  lodging 
of  Thomas,  cast  down  and  dis- 
consolate, because  they  had  no 
hope  now  that  Thomas  would 
ever  believe,  and  Thomas  sat 
down  in  his  misery  to  eat  out 
his  heart  with  sorrow.  Thomas 
had  done  his  worst  and  the  dis- 
ciples had  done  their  best,  and  it 
remained  the  cruelest  of  situa- 
tions— a  disciple  refusing  to  be- 
lieve that  the  Lord  had  risen, 
and  breaking  his  heart  because 
he  could  not  believe.  The  dis- 
ciples have  done  what  they  could, 
and  they  have  done  well;  for 
they  have  refused  to  be  content 
without  Thomas,  and  they  have 
[178] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

sought  him  out  in  their  charity, 
and  they  have  pleaded  with  him 
as  with  a  brother,  and  they  have 
entered  into  his  sufferings.  They 
have  deserved  well  of  Thomas 
and  they  have  deserved  well  of 
the  Master,  and  the  Master  Him- 
self will  now  deal  with  Thomas. 

Thomas  had  asked  for  a  sign, 
and  Jesus  had  no  love  for  signs 
because  He  thought  that  they 
ministered  only  to  the  love  of 
wonder,  and  because  He  sus- 
pected the  spirit  which  asked 
for  them.  When  the  Pharisees 
required  a  sign,  He  called  them 
an  evil  and  adulterous  generation, 
and  through  all  His  ministry  He 
never  condescended  to  work  a 
single  miracle  in  order  to  win 
[179] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

His  enemies  to  His  side.  No 
request  was  more  likely  to 
offend  the  Lord,  or  to  make  Him 
angry,  than  this  very  thing 
which  Thomas  asked,  and  on 
which  he  staked  his  faith.  There 
was,  however,  a  wide  difference 
between  the  Pharisees  crying  out 
for  a  sign  that  they  might  grat- 
ify their  cnriosityand,  if  possible, 
put  Christ  to  confusion,  and  a 
heart-broken  disciple  desiring  an 
unquestionable  proof  that  his 
faith  had  not  been  in  vain  and 
that  his  love  had  not  lost  his  Lord. 

Jesus  can  distinguish  between 

those  who  hate  Him  and  those 

who    love    Him,    although    they 

may  fall  sometimes  into  the  same 

[180] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

error  and  speak  with  the  same 
tongue.  For  an  unbeliever,  like 
the  Pharisee — shallow,  insincere, 
unloving — Jesus  will  make  no 
concession;  but  for  a  sceptic  like 
Thomas — earnest,  loyal,  and  ten- 
der— there  is  nothing  that  our 
Master  is  not  willing  to  do. 
What  He  refused  yesterday  to 
another  kind  of  man.  He  will 
give  to-day  to  this  man;  He  will 
not  stand  upon  His  dignity, 
or  upon  His  consistency,  with 
Thomas;  the  Master  will  forget 
everything  except  that  the  light 
has  gone  out  of  a  brave  man's 
life  through  despair  of  love,  and 
that  it  is  in  His  power  to  light 
the  lamp  again. 
We  may  very  well  take  from 
[181] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

a  friend  what  we  would  not  take 
from  a  stranger,  and  we  forget 
his  foolishness  because  of  his  af- 
fection ;  for  strangers  are  nothing 
to  us,  but  friends  are  few.  There 
was  not  so  much  love  in  the 
world  that  Jesus  could  afford  to 
lose  one  true  heart,  not  so  much 
honesty  of  mind  that  Jesus  would 
scruple  about  convincing  Thomas. 
What  a  patient,  faithful,  hope- 
less love  was  his!  Was  it  so 
that  he  could  not  forget  *  the 
print  of  the  nails  '? — then  he 
should  see  them  again  if  he  so 
desired.  Was  it  so  that  the 
gaping  wound  in  the  Master's 
side  had  never  departed  from 
before  his  eyes? — ^then  Thomas 
shall  handle  it  if  it  please 
[182] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

him.  There  is  nothing  the  Lord 
will  not  do,  that  the  load  may 
be  lifted  from  off  the  heart  of 
Thomas  and  he  may  know  that 
the  wounds  of  his  Friend  are  for 
ever  healed  and  that  no  spear  will 
ever  again  pierce  his  risen  Lord. 

And  Thomas  in  the  end  outdid 
himself  in  faith,  so  that  the 
kindness  of  the  Lord  had  its  full 
recompense  of  reward.  If  the 
disciples  went  back  disheartened 
from  the  place  where  Thomas 
lodged,  and  reported  that  their 
visit  had  been  of  no  avail,  they 
were  wrong,  and  had  not  done 
justice  either  to  Thomas  or  to 
themselves,  for  though  he  had 
not  been  moved  by  their  argu- 
[183] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

ments  and  had  not  become  par- 
taker of  their  faith,  he  was 
touched  by  their  kindness,  and 
they  had  conquered  his  heart. 
Their  faces  and  their  words  had 
brought  back  the  days  of  pleas- 
ant fellowship,  and  his  loneliness 
grew  unendurable.  On  the  next 
Lord's  Day,  as  the  disciples  meet 
in  the  upper  room  to  comfort  one 
another  with  the  remembrance 
of  the  Lord's  resurrection,  who 
should  come  in  but  Thomas !  Be 
sure  he  was  welcome,  and  his 
coming  made  glad  their  hearts. 
And  now  there  remained  only 
one  thing  to  complete  their  joy, 
and  within  every  heart  there  was 
one  prayer  that  the  Lord  would 
come  and  reveal  Himself  to  them 
[184] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

and  to  Thomas.  Suddenly  and 
mysteriously,  as  before,  Jesus 
appeared,  and  when  He  has 
saluted  the  disciples  with  His 
word  of  peace  He  turns  to 
Thomas.  While  the  apostle  re- 
fused to  meet  with  his  brethren 
Jesus  might  be  with  him,  but 
He  was  hidden.  So  soon  as 
Thomas  took  his  place  once  more 
among  the  disciples  Jesus  re- 
vealed Himself.  *  ^^  Thy  finger 
into  the  print  of  the  nails, ' '  didst 
thou  say,  Thomas  ?  It  is  granted 
thee,  that  thou  mayest  believe. 
Behold  My  hand!  Reach  hither 
thy  finger.  **  Thy  hand  into  My 
side,''  Thomas,  didst  thou  say? 
This  also  is  granted  thee,  that 
thou  mayest  believe.  Behold 
[185] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

My  side!  Where  is  thy  hand? 
Thrust  it  in.'  Everything  which 
he  had  asked  was  offered  him 
exactly  as  he  asked  it,  and, 
strange  to  say,  Thomas  refused 
to  avail  himself  of  his  Master's 
kindness.  He  reached  hither  no 
finger,  he  thrust  in  no  hand,  he 
cast  aside  his  own  conditions, 
and  having  declared  that  he 
would  never  believe  unless  he 
was  allowed  to  handle  his  Lord's 
body,  when  the  Lord  in  His 
immense  condescension  offered 
Himself  for  the  handling, 
Thomas  would  not  lay  a  finger 
upon  Him.  What  need  to  touch 
when  he  had  seen  and  heard? 
Before  him  stood  his  Friend  of 
Galilee,  and  to  be  assured  that 
[186] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

Jesus  was  alive  was  enough  to 
satisfy  the  heart  of  Thomas. 

He  was  to  know  more  than 
that,  and  his  faith  was  to  rise 
higher  than  he  had  ever  hoped, 
for  now  it  appeared  that  Jesus 
had  not  only  been  risen  from  the 
dead  while  he  supposed  Him  to 
be  lying  in  the  grave,  but  Jesus 
had  been  thinking  of  him  and 
been  with  him  during  those  past 
days.  Jesus  had  heard  him  de- 
clare his  unbelief,  and  had  seen 
the  tears  of  his  heart;  Jesus  had 
taken  note  of  his  exact  words, 
and  had  repeated  them  that  even- 
ing. The  Master  had  not  been 
angry,  but  more  merciful  than 
ever;  He  had  not  refused  him 
his  bold  request,  but  had  offered 
[187] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

him  all  that  lie  asked.  What 
manner  of  man  was  this  who 
could  stand  unseen  in  a  disciple 's 
room  and  knew  the  thought  of  a 
disciple's  heart  I  This  was  more 
than  the  Friend  of  Galilee,  and 
more  than  any  master  of  mere 
flesh  and  blood.  To  be  present 
everywhere  and  to  feel  with 
every  heart,  and  to  have  mercy 
upon  the  weakest  and  the  sad- 
dest— this  is  divine.  And  the 
faith  of  Thomas,  which  had  de- 
scended lower  than  that  of  any 
other  disciple,  rose  highest  of 
them  all.  He  had  imagined  that 
if  his  request  were  granted  and 
he  had  verified  the  wounds  of  his 
friend  he  would  kneel  at  Jesus' 
feet  and  cry,  *  My  Master  ' ;  but 
[188] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

now  he  had  passed  Friend  and 
Master,  and  Thomas  made  the 
great  confession,  *  My  Lord  and 
my  God.' 

Blessed  was  Thomas,  who, 
having  seen,  believed;  more 
blessed  they  who  without  sight 
are  able  to  believe.  Sight  may, 
doubtless,  be  an  aid  to  faith,  as 
the  physical  revelation  of  the 
Lord  helped  Thomas,  as  the 
bread  and  wine  help  us  in  the 
Holy  Supper,  but  the  supreme 
and  convincing  evidence  of  the 
risen  Lord  is  our  fellowship  with 
Him  and  His  grace  towards  us. 
It  is  His  patience,  His  under- 
standing. His  charity.  His  loving- 
kindness.  Who  is  this  keeping 
vigil  with  us  through  our  night 
[189] 


Thomas  the  Doubter 

of  doubt,  entering  into  our  secret 
thoughts,  answering  our  deepest 
questions,  strengthening  us  to 
watch  as  those  that  watch  for  the 
morning,  and  then  appearing  to 
our  spiritual  vision  with  morn- 
ing songs?  With  Thomas,  who, 
if  he  believed  late,  believed  most 
perfectly,  and  with  the  Church 
of  all  the  ages,  which  has  one 
voice,  we  answer,  *  My  Lord  and 
my  God.' 


[190] 


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